IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe has revealed that the electoral officials who mishandled the August 8 presidential election have refused to resign.
Commissioner Akombe, while speaking to the Bloomberg, noted that failure of the officials to resign forced Chairman Wafula Chebukati to select a team that he had confidence in.
“In a normal democracy, people would have introspected, they would have opted to step aside, they have failed to do that. They have refused.
“In a situation where they have refused to step aside, the chairman has no choice but to select a team that he has confidence in, that he wants to work with.This is to make sure that those things are not repeated. It’s rare to get a second chance to make it right," she stated.
Ms Akombe, however, did not name the officials who had refused to resign.
Reports indicate that the move by Chebukati to appoint a new team ruffled some commissioners forcing the electoral agency to conduct a crisis meeting on Wednesday.
During the meeting, four out of the seven IEBC commissioners are alleged to have stormed out in protest of the new appointments made by Chebukati.
Sources privy to the meeting indicate that Vice Chairperson Consolata Nkatha, Prof. Abdi Guliye, Dr Paul Kurgat, and Mr Boya Molu stormed out of the meeting claiming that Chebukati acted alone and did not consult them while selecting the team.
"We were shocked because at no one point did we discuss or agree to effect changes in our secretariat. We have asked for an urgent meeting to discuss this matter because the commission is run by the commissioners, not an individual.
"Secondly, some of us are of the view that the chairman assumed and purported to exercise powers he doesn't have," one protesting commissioner told journalists.
They maintained that the IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba is the one mandated to carry out such changes and accused some of the senior officials of having been compromised by politicians.
"Assignment of duties to staff and implementation of commission decisions is the work of the commission secretary (Chiloba), who is also the accounting officer.
"We have also reliably learned that some of us met some senior political players in this election on Monday evening. We have to be sure that some decisions such as these were not the product of such meetings as alleged," one of the commissioners noted.
Commissioners Roselyn Akombe and Margaret Mwachanya are said to be in support of the Chairman's move, expressing readiness to work with the new team.
"The chairman made the changes in his capacity as the national returning officer. I fully support his decision. We are scheduled to hold a meeting to deliberate on the same," they noted.
Read Also: 4 IEBC Commissioners Storm Out of Chebukati's Meeting
