Staff changes ahead of Kenya’s repeated election in 60 days

 AGENCY STAFF | 01 SEPTEMBER 2017 | Business Day

Nairobi — On Friday, Kenya’s electoral commission vowed to make staff changes ahead of a new presidential vote ordered by the country’s supreme court, which said it had failed to conduct a valid election last month.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati took note of the supreme court decision canceling the results of the August 8 election due to “irregularities and illegalities” in the system for transmitting voting results.

“The commission intends to make internal changes to our personnel … as we prepare for the fresh presidential election in 60 days,” Chebukati said at a press conference. He ruled out resigning himself, saying he had not been implicated in any wrongdoing. “The commission invited the office of the director of public prosecutions to urgently investigate and prosecute any of our staff that may have been involved in violations of the election offences act.”

The current crop of IEBC commissioners took office only seven months before the election, after their predecessors were forced to step down following widespread protests against them. The previous commission had been tarnished by a corruption scandal and its handling of flawed 2013 elections, which saw a series of high-tech safeguards failing on election day.

However, Chebukati noted that while the seven commissioners were new, there had been no change to the previous secretariat, and urged the supreme court to quickly publish its full judgment to allow a “full understanding of the areas of focus as we prepare a timetable for the fresh presidential elections”.