A retreat to evaluate the performance of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ended up in a further split as mistrust among the commissioners played out.
The retreat at Mombasa Pride Inn Hotel last week, was also marred by claims of infiltration by political forces. All cadres of IEBC staff, including all the commissioners, attended the meeting part of whose agenda was to discuss the management of the August 9 elections.
The divisions that emerged among the commissioners before the final presidential election results were announced appear to be deeply entrenched, with some of the staff taking a partisan stand. The Nation learnt that there was jeering and cheering of some of the commissioners when they addressed the meeting.
The four who disowned the presidential results declared by Chairman Wafula Chebukati — Vice-Chairperson Juliana Cherera and commissioners Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit, and Francis Wanderi — attended. Mr Chebukati and the other two commissioners, Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, were also present.
According to sources, so pronounced was the fallout that the two opposing factions did not share a boardroom, with each booking a different holding room. Ms Cherera’s group was in Witu boardroom while Mr Chebukati’s was in the Tana room.
The Nation also learnt that there is a push to have the dissenting commissioners resign from IEBC, but they have vowed to remain.
The Farmers Party — affiliated to President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance — has petitioned the National Assembly to remove the commissioners for “gross violation and breach of their oath of office”.
In a statement issued last week, Mr Chebukati commended the commission on its management of the presidential election, insisting that the August 9 elections were free, fair and credible “despite working in a hostile environment”.
He denied the claims of the four dissenting commissioners that he had sidelined them during the tallying of the presidential votes, saying, each one of them was assigned duties to manage critical components of the election.
