Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati has reportedly removed all the commissioners from the agency’s WhatsApp group.
Reputable sources informed a local TV station that Chebukati made the move as the commission got ready for a titanic legal fight at the Supreme Court.
The decision came at a time when the commissioners’ relationship has grown chilly and contentious, with contacts at the once-active group eventually coming to an end. Many of the commissioners were caught off guard by the move.
According to other reports, Chebukati was the group administrator due to his position and the fact that he was one of the commissioners on the electoral board with the longest tenure.
The panel was battling to maintain cohesion while presiding over a fiercely contested presidential election and the announcement of William Ruto as the winner was the commission’s ultimate setback.
Four commissioners distanced themselves from the exercise’s outcomes, denying the findings at a concurrent press conference, and made it obvious that the procedure was secretive and solely conducted by Chebukati, in flagrant violation of the constitution.
The commissioners Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyangaya, and Irene Masit refuted Chebukati’s assertions and brought up important questions about the chairman of the IEBC’s conduct in relation to the just-completed elections on August 9.
Cherera slammed Chebukati, saying, “We wish to categorically state that from his statement, it appears that he misconstrued his role and that of the commissioners and further misunderstood his Constitutional and legal mandate to verify results by the Commission to mean what he vaguely characterized as ‘moderation’ of those results,”
“The chairman went ahead to unilaterally declare the results without any plenary verification whatsoever by all the commissioners and/or their participation as mandated by the Constitution and electoral laws. His actions and conduct were unorthodox and turned the commission into a one-man show circus, in an attempt to subvert the Constitution, electoral laws, and the will of the people,” noted the commissioners in their statement.