IEBC fallout as Chiloba is suspended over ‘procurement’
Electoral commission CEO Ezra Chiloba has been sent on a three-month compulsory leave, a decision that has left the electoral body sharply divided.
Mr Chiloba was served the leave notice on Saturday pending investigations into unspecified “procurement issues”.
The letter was a directive of IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, backed by two other commissioners, a source at the commission with an understanding of the issues but who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, told the Nation on Monday.
WALKED OUT
During a meeting on Friday, the source said, most of the commissioners, led by the vice chairperson Consolata Maina, walked out in protest, terming the grounds set for Mr Chiloba’s suspension as unjustified.
Contacted on the matter, IEBC commissioner Paul Kurgat termed as “unprocedural” the suspension of Mr Chiloba.
Dr Kurgat, who opposed the proposed suspension during the IEBC plenary meeting on Friday, said the move was ill-advised.
“There are matters of procedure which were not followed, and our timing on this was bad,” he told the Nation on phone.