Former IEBC Commissioner Roselyne Akombe, in her “end of assignment” report exposed how executive officer Ezra Chiloba put the brakes on multi-billion-shilling procurements on the pretext of time constraint, thereby ensuring they were directly sourced.
Akombe exposed the rot at the electoral agency providing the first insider evidence that August 8, 2017, polls could have been compromised.
The report is alleged to have been leaked on Saturday during the crisis at the electoral agency although it was dated October 30, 2017.
In the report, Dr Akombe analyzed the institutional weakness, operational issues and the weak points in the conduct the 2017 General Election.
[caption caption="IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati, CEO Ezra Chiloba and former Commissioner Roselyn Akombe"]
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She further maintained that procurement at the IEBC was marred by corruption and listed the controversial acquisition of the KIEMS kits and hiring of a media company as among the many tenders that were wrapped in intrigues.
“There was a running joke that the only meetings which commission staff would attend on time were the tender evaluation committee meetings. The trend is the same when it comes to tenders at the constituency level,” Akombe remarked.
“There are several accusations bordering on violations of procurement laws that can only be addressed through thorough independent investigations,” she added.
The former IEBC Commissioner lamented that many issues at the commission relating to technology were clouded in secrecy and only handled by Chiloba and ICT Director James Muhati without accounting to the commissioners.
“The dominance of Safran/OT Morpho in all aspects of the commission's work is an aspect worth in-depth investigations, including their role in the 2017 election,” the report stated.
[caption caption="Former IEBC Commissioner Roselyne Akombe"]
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Akombe recounted that when the display of results stopped at the Bomas of Kenya at about 8.30pm on August 8, neither their staff nor Safran officials could explain what had happened.
