Newly appointed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Marjan Hussein has opened up over the demise of his former colleague, Chris Msando.
During an interview on Thursday, March 10, Hussein stated that losing Msando, IEBC's former Information Communication and Technology (ICT) manager, was devastating.
The deceased was tasked with spearheading the electronic voting system ahead of the 2017 General election. His body was found mutilated and dumped in Thika.
“It was particularly sad for me because I had recruited him (to the commission),” Marjan told the Standard.
Regarding his first task in office, the new IEBC secretariat boss revealed that he was putting in place plans to add the newly enlisted 2.5 million voters to the IEBC register.
Marjan will also spearhead the auditing of the voter register that was used during the 2017 polls.
This followed concerns that the electoral body would conduct the August 9 polls with a register that contains names of Kenyans who passed away to create a loophole for electoral malpractice.
“The most critical thing I am currently steering is developing the register of voters. The law requires that the register should be ready 60 days before the election,” he stated.
Marjan, who replaced former IEBC CEO, Ezra Chiloba further noted that the commission would complete the process soon enough to enable Kenyans to verify their details.
Additionally, he exhibited his confidence that the electoral body would conduct free and fair verifiable polls.
“Kenyans should relax, IEBC is in control There will always be challenges, but we have learnt from our predecessors’ mistakes and have put up adequate measures to address them,” he stated.
IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati announced Hussein Marjan as the new CEO on Wednesday, March 9.
