Chebukati suspends 3 senior IEBC officials

janet ndila

September 19, 2017 3:57 PM

The Chairman has taken action after...

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati has taken action against three IEBC officials.

Chebukati has suspended three ICT personnel who are believed to have engaged in election malpractices.

Those who have been suspended are director James Muhati, coordinator Paul Mugo and officer Boniface Wamae.

According to the Chairman, the officers appear to have fallen short in assisting the commission successfully in discharging its mandate.

"The officers appear to have fallen short of assisting the commission successfully in discharging its mandate," said Chebukati in the Memo seen by The Star.

In a memo to CEO Ezra Chiloba, Chebukati said the decision was made to restore confidence in the IEBC ahead of the fresh election.

Chebukati said the decision following the waning confidence in the commission's ability to prepare and deliver a credible poll.

The Opposition had asked the electoral agency to overhaul the team it believed messed up the August 8 general election.

In a memorandum to IEBC, NASA demanded that Chiloba, ICT director James Muhati and director of voter registration Immaculate Kassait be excluded from the preparations for the new vote.

NASA alleged that Kassait is the Jubilee 'hatchet man' in the electoral agency and reports to State House on a regular basis.

Earlier on, NASA had released a list of senior officials at IEBC who they want to be excluded in the repeat presidential elections slated for October 17.

Those in the list included CEO Ezra Chiloba, voter registration and electoral operations director Immaculate Kasait, head of legal department Praxedes Tororey, head of operations Betty Nyabuto and ICT director James Muhati and Manager Legal Department and Advisor to the CEO Moses Kipkogey.

The NASA leaders demanded their removal claiming they were responsible for bungling the August 8 polls and accused them of being partisan.

janet ndila