Embattled IEBC boss Chebukati retains lawyer Donald Kipkorir

Lawyer Donald Kipkorir. He is the lawyer of electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Having served only 15 months of their 72-month tenure, the three commissioners have 57 months left in their contract.
  • Lawyer Kipkorir said reports of him leading negotiations for Chebukati's exit package were red-herring rumours and fake news.

Electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati has retained city lawyer Donald Kipkorir to protect his interests as his job comes under increasing scrutiny.

Mr Chebukati said speculation over his tenure had increased following the sending on leave of the agency’s chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba and the resignation of three commissioners, which left the commission’s ability to discharge its legal mandate in question.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman said unnamed forces are bent on removing him from office and were behind claims he had instructed the lawyer to negotiate a compensation of Sh700 million for him and the two remaining commissioners to leave office.

“Not true. That is part of a series of rumours created to put pressure on my two commissioners and I, with the sole purpose of attempting to remove us from office,” Mr Chebukati said.

EXIT PACKAGE
In a phone message, Mr Kipkorir said: “I have been retained by Wanyonyi Wafula Chebukati, chairman IEBC, to act for him generally respecting his tenure of office.”

Sources at the commission had told the Nation that Mr Chebukati and the two remaining commissioners were silently negotiating a Sh700 million exit package, way above the estimated Sh120 million owed to them for the remainder of their terms.

The deal was to be based on what they would have earned for the remainder of their six-year term, and a golden handshake, the sources said.

The IEBC team took office in January 2017, and had a fixed, non-renewable six-year term.

Having served only 15 months of their 72-month tenure, the three commissioners have 57 months left in their contract.

The other commissioners still serving are Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, following last week’s exits of Connie Maina, Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya.

RESIGNATION

Asked whether the three IEBC top officials would be open to such a package, Mr Chebukati said: “Such discussion is not in our minds.”

Mr Kipkorir, who had earlier refused to discuss the details of any instructions from Mr Chebukati because of client confidentiality, said reports of him leading negotiations for an exit package were “red-herring rumours and fake news”.

“As you are aware, there are some politicians who have been calling for his resignation.

"None of the calls have been put in writing and thus we can’t respond to them.

"We have not made any offer to any one as it has never arisen. At the moment, our client is executing his mandate in office,” the lawyer said.

SALARIES

Sources close to him and commissioners Guliye and Molu however said the three are open to leaving office.

“They feel their fate lies in the Uhuru-Raila handshake. It actually does revolve around it.

"They are open-minded that if the deal so proposes their removal, then the best they can do is negotiate good terms,” the source said.

Since they were recruited before the Salaries and Remuneration Commission did a review of the pay for members of constitutional commissions and independent offices last August, in case of a deal, it might be based on a March 1, 2013 circular.

The 2013 notice did not change the IEBC chiefs’ packages in the August 2017 salary review, which proposes a Sh924,000-per-month pay for IEBC chairman and Sh765,188 for the commissioners.

CHILOBA SUSPENSION
Mr Chebukati earned Sh792,000 per month in his first year in office, which was to be increased by Sh52,800 each year to cap at Sh1.056 million monthly in the sixth year.

Calculated on this scale, Mr Chebukati would take home Sh45 million in his pending contract.

The commissioners, on the other hand, earned Sh640,681 in their first year with a Sh42,712 increase each year to hit Sh852,241 in the sixth year.

They would go home with Sh75 million based on the 2013 scale.

Reports of the deal emerged as a memo to IEBC staff by Mr Chebukati showed a man appearing to retract on the reasons for suspending Mr Chiloba.

While he had insisted that Mr Chiloba was suspended because he failed to provide answers to audit queries, Mr Chebukati said the suspension was only to allow for a substantive audit.