IEBC defends reshuffle of officers
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati (left) and CEO Ezra Chiloba at Anniversary Towers, Nairobi, on April 5, 2017. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Electoral commission’s CEO Ezra Chiloba disputed the claim, saying it was guided by the principle that returning officers should not serve in their home areas.
- No officer, said IEBC, was posted where they served before or in their home constituency or county.
The electoral commission has defended its list of 47 county and 290 constituency returning officers after Nasa claimed the reshuffle was a plot to rig the election.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has, since Monday, spent its days on Twitter, sharing the list of the new returning officers, who were reshuffled from their 2013 postings, as 30 of them were promoted to the post of county returning officers.
A Twitter user asked the commission to address the “issue of rigging plans detected in your posting officials from only one tribe to Western”.
“That was cherry-picking, ignored 14 constituencies in Western Kenya. A national analysis gives (a) totally different picture,” the agency said in its response to the user.
AVALANCHE OF TWEETS
The avalanche of tweets and the team’s consistent response to those asking to look at the official list, came a day after Nasa alleged bias, ethnic profiling and planned rigging of elections.
But the commission’s CEO Ezra Chiloba disputed the claim, saying it was guided by the principle that returning officers should not serve in their home areas.
According to the list in the Nyanza and western regions, Ms Grace Rono will man the elections in Kakamega, Ms Sarah Ogaro (Vihiga), Ms Bilha Kiptugen (Bungoma), Mr Fredrick Apopa (Busia), Ms Ruth Kulundu (Siaya), Mr John Lorionokou (Kisumu), Mr Michael Kosgei (Homa Bay), Mr Robert Namulungu (Kisii), and Mr David Bett (Nyamira).
No officer, said IEBC, was posted where they served before or in their home constituency or county. The county managers and returning officers are to report to work by May 20.
