IEBC proceeds with efforts to make October poll airtight

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati has said that he will not step down before the October 26 repeat presidential election.

Mr Chebukati termed the allegations of his resignation plans as fake, saying that he is in office to serve Kenyans.

"The chairman is not planning to resign, the commissioners are not planning to resign either .

"That is fake news and going forward I just want to inform the country that what happens in the boardroom, the chairman guides the deliberations, he also gives options to the commissioners," Mr Chebukati said.

TEAM EFFORT

He continued to say that they will fulfil their duties as required.

"We took an oath of office when we were appointed. Our duty is to serve the people of Kenya as enshrined in the Constitution and we shall deliver our mandate on October 26 because we have a contract with the Kenyan people," he added.

Also, he insisted that there is no infighting within the commission.

"We may have areas of different opinions but at the end of the day, a decision has to be made and the majority in the commission carry the day.

"We make policies, the CEO operationalizes the policies. So when the chairman tells the CEO we have made a decision go prepare a memo, give it to the press then there is nothing ordinary about that."

ELECTION
Addressing the press at Racecourse Inn Hotel in Eldoret Town on Saturday where he oversaw the training of returning officers drawn from the six sub-counties of Uasin Gishu, Mr Chebukati maintained that the October 26 poll will proceed as planned.

"The commission is preparing for the October 26 fresh presidential election and part of the preparation is to train our staff...," he said.

The training is meant to seal the gaps identified by the Supreme Court during the ruling that annulled the August presidential poll.

"...This time the commission wants to get it 100 per cent right and so the errors that were pointed out by the Supreme Court have now been narrowed down to specific areas of training," he explained.

TRAINING
From Uasin Gishu, Mr Chebukati also made stop overs in Bungoma, Trans Nzoia counties and other North Rift areas to check on the progress.

"Mine is just to encourage the staff and to tell them that the commission is committed to ensuring that the country goes to the poll on October 26 and that there is no room for errors.

"That is why we are training our staff to make sure that the processes we shall undertake on October have no errors," he said.