Sharp disagreements continue to exist within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), according to reports that Wafula Chebukati, the agency’s chairman, has banned all of the commissioners from its WhatsApp group.
NTV distributed a screenshot of a WhatsApp group with the single name Chebukati at the top.
This is the most recent development in a contentious feud between the commissioners that initially surfaced in front of the public last week on Monday, when Chebukati announced Dr. William Ruto as the victor of the presidential election.
The dissenting commissioners, led by Vice Chair Juliana Cherera, scheduled a separate press conference that Monday evening to distance themselves from Chebukati’s pronouncement as he prepared to make it at the Bomas of Kenya.
The four new commissioners declared that they would not accept the declared results of the presidential election and rejected them.
Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit, and Francis Wanderi are in Cherera’s camp while Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu are in Chebukati’s camp in what appears to be a struggle of wills between the new members of the commission and the old guard.
In addition, Cherera’s group alleged that they were excluded from the selection of returning officers after being taken by surprise by the arrival of the first batch of ballots.
Cherera holds her employer accountable for the original postponement of the polls during a meeting with candidates from eight electoral zones who had their elections delayed. She alleged that certain commissioners were purposefully kept in the dark about the printing of ballots.
The petition contesting the results of the vote will now get comments from each of the four electoral commissioners.
