There was a clear disconnect when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) senior officials met for a crisis meeting after the Supreme Court decision to nullify the Presidential election.
IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba is reported to have left a short while after arriving for the meeting which was meant to discuss the electoral body's next move.
Mr Chiloba was also distinctively absent from the Friday meeting convened by Chairman Wafula Chabukati and attended by commissioners Roselyn Akombe, Prof Yakub Guliye and Ms Margaret Mwachanya.
On Thursday, a disagreement between an IEBC commissioner and a senior secretariat official is reported to have turned physical at a recent meeting.
The Nation reported that a commissioner demanded to know how his login credentials had been used to access the election results database as revealed by the server audit ordered by the Supreme Court.
This comes as NASA made it clear that the IEBC as currently constituted must be removed from office before the fresh elections.
The Jubilee Party, however, insisted that the IEBC should run the next election, with Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen saying that if they are removed, they will use their numbers in the legislature to get rid of the Supreme Court judges.
It is alleged that clashes between the commissioners and the secretariat have not been unusual.
Mr Chiloba is among six IEBC officials who NASA has said were co-conspirators in election fraud and demanded their immediate resignation and prosecution.
Others on the list include Deputy Commission Secretary (Operations) Ms Betty Sungura-Nyabuto, Legal and Public Affairs Director Praxedes Tororey, Voter Registration and Electoral Operations Director Immaculate Kassait and ICT Director James Muhati.
An internal memo (Ref. IEBC/CEO/1/1/09/2017) sent out by Mr. Chiloba shortly after Friday’s landmark ruling reads in part “Colleagues, from the bottom of my heart, I know that you did your best given the challenges we have had to surmount in the last two years,”
“Do not lose perspective on this process. While the general public may not understand most of the investment you personally made, you should always remember that you served your country," he added.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati had earlier invited the Director of Public Prosecutions to probe staff as he promised to make ‘personnel changes’ ahead of the fresh elections.
With an election having to happen before November 1st, the pressure is on the commission to deliver a new timeline with all factors considered.
This includes national examinations with the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) scheduled for October 31st to November 2nd while the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is supposed to begin on November 6th.
Schools make up the majority of polling stations in general elections.
It remains to be seen how these disagreements will play out as Kenyans prepare to go back to the polls.
