Embattled polls agency ICT boss opts to resign
IEBC ICT director James Muhati (right). He was suspended by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati in 2017. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- An IEBC insider says Mr Muhati’s unwillingness to seek an extension of his term could be because he had received an appointment at a different agency.
- He has had a rocky relationship with IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and some of the commissioners who, before the 2017 elections, sent him on suspension.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ICT Director James Muhati has resigned.
He opted to resign rather than seek an extension to his five-year term, which ends in May.
Mr Muhati is among four top officers whose terms are ending.
The manager for business systems at the commission, Silas Njeru, has now been appointed acting ICT director.
Acting CEO Hussein Marjan, whose substantive appointment is that of a deputy CEO, the Audit Risk and Compliance director Osman Hassan Ibrahim and Voter Registration and Electoral Operations director Rasi Masudi were appointed at the same time in March 2015.
Mr Osman had been hired as finance director but has since traded offices with Obadiah Keitany and is now the director of finance.
While Mr Marjan, Mr Masudi and Mr Ibrahim applied for extension of their terms, Mr Muhati, however, was not keen on approaching the commissioners to be granted opportunity to continue serving in his position. He eventually submitted his request reportedly under pressure.
Our source at the IEBC says he did very well in the appraisals but then tendered his resignation, even though an extension was offered after his resignation was received. Mr Muhati did not respond when we reached out to him for a comment.
An IEBC insider says Mr Muhati’s unwillingness to seek an extension of his term could be because he had received an appointment at a different agency. He has had a rocky relationship with IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and some of the commissioners who, before the 2017 elections, sent him on suspension. Mr Chebukati also pushed for his suspension after the 2017 General Election.
In the period of the elections and the acrimony that followed the declaration of presidential results, Mr Muhati became the punching bag for the National Super Alliance (Nasa), who wanted the ICT director and former CEO Ezra Chiloba barred from participating in the fresh elections that had been ordered by the Supreme Court after it annulled the presidential election.
Besides Mr Muhati and Mr Chiloba, Nasa had named commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, as well as Mr Marjan, among those it wanted barred.
But even as the commission was shielding Mr Muhati and others who Nasa wanted out, internally the IEBC chairman did not spare the ICT director in a series of leaked memos. Mr Chebukati accused him of authorising ICT staff to create a username account and password in the name of the chairperson without his permission and wanted the former CEO to take action against Mr Muhati. He had also been lumped together with Mr Chiloba for blame for the failures in the 2017 General Election and the annulment of the presidential election by the Supreme Court.
Save for Mr Muhati, the other three whose terms were ending are likely to get extensions of between two and five years. Mr Marjan has been the commission’s acting CEO since April 2018, when Mr Chiloba was first sent on compulsory leave and later sacked.
Attempts by the IEBC to hire a substantive CEO have not been successful and on two occasions, the courts have intervened to stop the process. The latest petition to stop the recruitment is still pending in court and was filed by Chama cha Mawakili, citing conflict of interest from within the commission and lack of transparency in the process.
With Mr Marjan elevated to be the acting CEO, Mr Keitany is now technically the number two at the IEBC secretariat.
Before Mr Chiloba was sent on compulsory leave and later sacked, Mr Marjan was substantively the deputy secretary/CEO and in charge of support services, having replaced Mr Wilson Shollei.
His appointment along with those of outgoing ICT director Muhati and Audit Risk and Compliance director Mr Ibrahim was announced by Mr Chiloba on March 20, 2015.
Nasa in their ‘Irreducible Minimums’, set out the reforms they wanted to see implemented before they could take part in the fresh presidential election.
They said Mr Marjan had been in charge of receiving Form34Bs “and allowed fake 34Bs to be admitted into the national tallying”.
He had been shortlisted for the CEO position before the interviews were called off following a court injunction.
Mr Ibrahim was appointed to fill the finance director’s position but internal staff movements have seen him moved to the Audit Risk and Compliance in a direct swap with Mr Keitany.
Even before the August 7, 2017 elections, Mr Muhati was in the commissioners’ crosshairs.
After the 2017 elections, Mr Muhati became the target of attacks by opposition leaders and internally by commissioners, who accused him of being responsible for the technology failures that blighted the elections.
On the other hand, Mr Masudi rose from internal ranks to be the director for Voter Registration and Electoral Operations director. He was previously a field staff.
