They will take over an organisation that has unable to carry out basic functions and has been without a chair since the retirement of Wafula Chebukati in 2023 (AC Vol 65 No 25 New alliances on shaky ground)...
Out of Commission For good or ill the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and its then chair Wafula Chebukati took centre stage in the aftermath of the disputed August 2022 general elections...
The commission has been inactive since the retirement over a year ago of its chair Wafula Chebukati who proclaimed Ruto the winner of the 2022 presidential polls and the dismissal of the four commissioners who rejected Chebukati's handling of the election results (AC Vol 63 No 17 Election chief proclaims Ruto victory but most of his commissioners dispute it)...
Kindiki claimed that Ogolla knew the results and sought to intimidate Wafula Chebukati chair of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) into declaring Odinga the winner of the August 2022 presidential elections...
The much-maligned IEBC is largely unchanged from 2022 though Wafula Chebukati its chair who declared Ruto the winner stood down a year ago (AC Vol 63 No 17 Election chief proclaims Ruto victory but most of his commissioners dispute it)...
Top of its agenda will be the reconstruction of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the auditing of the 2022 August general election which saw Ruto narrowly elected ahead of Odinga despite a group of IEBC commissioners breaking ranks and accusing the then chairman Wafula Chebukati of electoral fraud (AC Vol 63 No 17 Election chief proclaims Ruto victory but most of his commissioners dispute it & Vol 64 No 3 Electoral Commission goes on trial again)...
Cronyism is nothing new in Kenyan politics and the latest move to raise eyebrows was President William Ruto's decision this week to nominate Mary Chebukati Wanyonyi wife of former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati to chair the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA)...
Three vacancies arose when the terms of the commission's chairman Wafula Chebukati and two commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye - all supporters of Ruto – expired on 17 January...
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That meant a majority of the seven-member commission opposed the August results but they were overruled by Wafula Chebukati the chairman of the electoral commission described by Ruto as 'my hero' who is himself due to retire on 17 January...
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Wafula Chebukati the chairman of Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is due to retire on 17 January but the opposition's critiques of the organisation – and questions about the integrity of the August elections – will not end there...