The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner, Justus Nyanga'ya, has accused the Commission chairperson, Wanyonyi Wafula Chebukati, of stripping him of his ICT role minutes before Kenyans went to the polls.
In a sworn affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, Nyang'aya stated that his role was unilaterally taken away from him on the election day.
He added that the chairperson did not explain the decision to him or other commissioners, even as Chebukati went ahead to transfer his roles to other IEBC officials.
Nyang'aya added that he was reassigned to handle protocol issues that were not as important as the ICT department.
"As part of the preparations for the said election, the Commission had appointed me as the person in charge of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affairs of the Commission.
"It follows logically that I am the one who should have been directly involved in all discussions, negotiations and meetings with all third parties who would provide ICT services to the Commission on the election day," Nyang'aya stated in his affidavit.
Further, he expressed that Chebukati was bullish in handling election matters, stating that commissioners were rarely consulted in the decision-making process.
In particular, he stated that errors noted in Forms 34A and 34B were only submitted to the chairperson who he also states refused to share details of voter turnout in the just concluded polls.
"In fact, myself and the other commissioners asked Chebukati for the manual register total but the said conversation elicited no response from the 2nd Respondent.
"To that end, at the point of announcement of the results on the 15 of August 2022, I did not have the verified totals of votes cast using both the digital and manual registers, neither did I have the verified totals of what each candidate got as to allow me to independently make a computation under Article 138(4) of the Constitution and establish whether any candidate achieved the threshold," read his affidavit in part.
Additionally, he asserted that the Chairperson released statements in the middle of the night in the days leading to the elections without consultations.
The commissioner stated that the statements defending foreigners involved in the electoral process were not sanctioned by the commissioners.
Nyang'aya filed the affidavit in response to a petition by former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, and his running mate, Martha Karua, challenging the victory of president-elect, William Ruto.
