Akombe prays for missing Embakasi East returning officer

Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissioner (IEBC) Roselyn Akombe is now praying for the safety of the Embakasi East Returning Officer who was reported missing on Friday night.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati said the commission had reported the matter to the police to help trace Daniel Musyoka.

Akombe tweeted on Saturday morning that she was “praying that Daniel Musyoka is safe and is reunited with his family”.

“Praying that Daniel Daniel Musyoka is safe and is reunited with his family, IEBC colleagues and friends,” Akimbo wrote on social media on Saturday.

She said that she was aware of the struggles they were going through as they tally presidential results.

“Keeping my former staff and colleagues in my thoughts and prayers during these tough times. I know what you are going through. Bon courage,” she said.

Akombe fled to New York and resigned in the run-up to the 2017 Presidential repeat election, saying she felt unsafe, and that the commission had no capacity to hold a credible election.

On Friday night, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati at the Bomas of Kenya during the Presidential election results verification process said that Mr Musyoka went missing Thursday at 9:45am at the city’s East Africa School of Aviation where tallying of presidential election results from Embakasi East constituency was going on.

According to Mr Chebukati, Mr Musyoka left his house and was escorted to the tallying centre by his official bodyguard.

Phone call

However, while at the tallying centre, he excused himself to make a call but did not return.

The matter was reported to the commission which in turn notified the police.

“His family is looking for him but cannot find him,” Mr Chebukati, who is the National Returning Officer (NRO) for the presidential election, said.

“The commission is deeply concerned with the matter and urges the investigative agencies to get to the root cause of the disappearance,” the IEBC chairman added.

The motive for his disappearance is a matter for the police to unearth, but Mr Chebukati assured that all is well and that Mr Musyoka’s duties have been taken over by his deputy.

Under the Elections Act and its attendant regulations, once the Commission’s Constituency Election Managers have been gazetted as Constituency Returning Officers (CROs), they report to the NRO.