Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera has labelled serious allegations against Wafula Chebukati who she accused of subverting the will of the people during the August elections.
In Cherera’s damaging affidavit: Chebukati secretly printed extra results forms
Cherera poured it all out in the 104-page affidavit, putting Chebukati on the spot
IEBC Vice chair Juliana Cherere led a 14-member team that flew to Athens, Greece last week to witness the printing of the ballot papers
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Among the allegations she raised is that Chebukati secretly printed a second set of results transmission forms without involving other commissioners, leading to a crisis that was resolved days to the elections.
According to Cherera, she was in Greece to inspect the ballot-printing exercise with fellow commissioner Francis Wanderi when they bumped into information that Chebukati had secretly instructed Lykos (Hellas) SA to print two sets of forms 34A.
"I discovered that when I visited the firm together with the representatives of the presidential candidates. All along, the Commission had always been aware that only one Form 34A was in be used for recording the presidential results at the polling centres.
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"However, on July 21 2022 when commissioner Wanderi and I visited Lykos Hellas to inspect the printing of Presidential Ballot Papers, we were informed that orders had been given for the printing of two sets of Forms 34A, Form 1 of 2 and Form 2 of 2," she lamented.
Lack of transparency and the transfer of Returning Officers
Cherera also lifted the lid on what she termed as a “pattern of incessant and continuous lack of transparency by Wafula Chebukati”.
She fingered Chebukati for running the commission unilaterally, including overseeing the transfers of returning officers without consulting other commissioners.
The IEBC vice chair observed that she and the three other dissenting commissioners, Justus Nyang'aya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi noted the trend as soon as they joined the commission.
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Verifying results alone and reassigning commissioners unrelated duties
According to Cherea, commissioners who should have helped with verifying and tallying the results of the presidential elections were re-assigned duties relevant to the tallying and verification process and this left Chebukati alone to work on the results which she maintained that the commission cannot own due to the opaqueness of the process.
"Masit, who chairs the legal committee, was placed in charge of hospitality which covered logistics and security while Nyangaya, who chairs the ICT committee, was assigned protocol (receiving VIPs) yet technology was central to the election process," Cherera complained.
Announcing erroneous results
She added that when Chebukati summoned the commissioners to a boardroom meeting before announcing the results, the commissioners requested to verify the results but the IEBC chairman blatantly refused.
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“On August 15, 2022 the chairperson of the commission proceeded to announce what he termed as the final presidential election results which had not been tallied and verified by the commission.
“The chairperson did not indicate how the errors and concerns raised by the representatives of the Presidential candidates and political parties were dealt with. In the said meeting, the commission once again sought to tally and verify the results but the chairperson indicated that he would announce the results and that the commissioners were at liberty to join him at the podium,” Cherera noted.
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