Uhuru’s PS stops IEBC from conducting recruitment to replace sacked officials

lorine towett

April 28, 2018 4:06 PM

3 Commissioners had resigned in protest after Ezra Chiloba was suspended

Treasury Permanent Secretary has stopped the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from conducting any recruitment to replace senior officials who were either sacked or retired.

This move comes barely a few days after the commission suspended its CEO with 3 other commissioners resigning in protest.

Critical positions within the commission including 3 commissioners among others are currently vacant.

A letter dated 24th by Treasury PS Kamau Thugge to Acting IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan noted that the commission had not obtained relevant approval for the exercise.

It further stated that the commission failed to adhere to the requirement that all new recruitment remain frozen as per the Treasury circular No. 2/2018.

The commission had advertised vacancies for three directors (Human Resource, Legal Affairs and Procurement).

The three commissioners who resigned in protest following Chiloba’s suspension are also yet to be replaced.

The letter read in part that “considering the tight budgetary framework underpinning the FY 2018/19 and the medium term budget and the fact that the general elections are over we recommend the IEBC to carry out the job evaluation to determine the workload of new positions first”.

Among those who were fired are Procurement Director Mr Lawy Aura whose sacking was "necessitated by incompetence that has made operations untenable" as the country approached last year's General Election.

IEBC director for legal affairs Praxedes Torery opted for early retirement in September 2017 instead of facing the sack.

Human Resource Director Celestine Kiuluku and Deputy CEO (Elections Operations) Betty Nyabuto-Sungura opted not to apply for a renewal of their contracts.

lorine towett