A candidate dramatically pulled out of interviews for the four vacant positions in the electoral commission that began Wednesday over alleged forgery of academic papers.
Mr Abdalla Mohammed withdrew from the race at the last minute for a slot in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, leaving 35 candidates.
He was to appear at 9.30am at the KICC but did not show up following the discovery of the trickery by the selection panel.
Mr Mohammed had submitted before the panel that he had obtained a Bachelor’s degree from Kenya Methodist University (Kemu) and even presented a certificate proving the same.
However, it all went south for him after the panel wrote to the university on June 28, to seek verification of the academic award that was allegedly awarded to Mr Mohammed on July 28, 2007.
A letter dated July 1, responding to the letter from the selection panel, Kemu VC confirmed the candidate had not attained the degree as claimed.
“This is to confirm that Abdalla Mohammed was not a student of Kenya Methodist University. The academic certificate BUS-1-206-05 was not issued by the university and is therefore a forgery,” said Prof David Gichoya.
When the matter was brought to the attention of Mr Mohammed, in line with Article 47 of the Constitution and the Fair Administration Act, 2015 on June 6, he opted out of the race.
“In his email response of the same day, Mr Mohamed thanked the Selection Panel for its correspondence and stated he would not attend today’s interview. The Selection Panel acknowledges and confirms the withdrawal of his candidature,” said Dr Elizabeth Muli, the chairperson of the panel.
The dramatic start of the process, however, did not stop the oral interviews of two other shortlisted candidates, Dr Abdirazak Arale Nunow and Anne Mwikali Kiusya.
In a 102-minute interview, Dr Nunow detailed his plans for the electoral agency should he be given a chance to serve as a commissioner. His interview came just a week after the expiry of his term as board member in the Refugee Appeal Board on June 30.
Dr Nunow said the existence of dead voters in the voter registry is a product of negligence of duty by IEBC officials. He said the commission should connect with the registrar of persons to ensure the list was constantly updated in the event a registered voter died.
Dr Nunow was tasked to explain the conclusion in his CV that stated he was keen on dealing with issues of marginalised communities, with the panel demanding to know if his tenure would be skewed towards favouring certain communities.
“I believe in fairness and equity. My focus on the marginalised is because their voice is not being heard clearly simply because they cannot participate in political plurality to compete on equal footing during elections,” he said.
Dr Nunow holds a PhD in human ecology and is a board member at the Competitive Authority of Kenya, a private consultant and a lecturer.
For her part, Ms Mwikali vowed to use knowledge acquired in her role to bring much needed change to the IEBC. She’s a lawyer and currently serving as the secretary of Machakos Golf Club with a membership of over 600.
Having previously served as the chairperson of the Human Resource Board at the National Construction Authority for three years, she said she has learnt a lot about corporate governance.
She was, however, at pains to respond to allegations about a 2016 case where her client complained that she withheld money she was supposed to hand over in a conveyance matter.
The client claimed that Ms Mwikali had failed to hand him Sh45 million and took the matter to a court tribunal but failed to appear for cross-examination for two years.
She explained that her conscience was clear on the matter and that she even complained about the failure of the complainant to appear before the tribunal for cross-examination.
The oral interviews will continue at the KICC with three candidates being interviewed daily until June 22.
