IEBC commissioners Consolata Maina, Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya are yet to hand in their resignation letters to President Uhuru Kenyatta as required by the law.
The three announced their quitting on April 16 citing poor leadership by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati. Now, questions are being raised about the validity of the move unless the president is in receipt of their letters.
Our calls to former vice chairperson Connie Maina and IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati went unanswered.
On Monday, April 16 IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati said he was yet to receive resignation letters from the commissioners.
The constitution says the office of the chairperson or a member of the Commission should become vacant if the holder:
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(a) Dies
(b) Resigns from office by notice in writing addressed to the President
(c) is removed from office under any of the circumstances specified in Article 251 and Chapter Six of the Constitution.
The President is then expected to publish a notice of a vacancy in the Gazette within seven days of the occurrence of such a vacancy.
Whenever a vacancy arises, the recruitment of a new chairperson or member is expected to commence immediately after the declaration of the vacancy by the President.
On October 18, 2017, commissioner Roselyne Akombe resigned just eight days to the October 26 repeat presidential election.
She accused IEBC of becoming a party to the political crisis in the country and said her decision to quit the commission was informed by threats to her life.
She has not been replaced.
Today The Standard reports that the three commissioners reportedly met State officers a night before they resigned. The officials included a senior politician, a senior State House official, a Cabinet secretary, a Principal Secretary and a senior intelligence officer, hours before their resignation.
According to sources, the Cabinet Secretary was tasked with inviting the commissioners to a meeting following the fallout at the commission that was escalated by the suspension of CEO Ezra Chiloba a week earlier.
The IEBC had held a retreat in Naivasha on Friday, where the commissioners failed to agree on how to bridge the rift in electoral body. It was then that they left, Kurgat for his Eldoret home, Maina for Nairobi while Mwachanya drove to JKIA and flew to Mombasa.
Initially, the State officers held talks with two of the three commissioners, but it was resolved that the negotiations also include a third commissioner.
A meeting was then set up for Saturday night. It was not clear if the final meeting involving all the parties was in Karen or Upper Hill in Nairobi.
The heavy hand of the State in the IEBC tribulations was evident, as officers attached to the three electoral agency commissioners were yet to be reinstated. However, according to sources, those who resigned on Monday continued to enjoy police protection. The Standard could not, however, independently confirm this, as the police Spokesman Charles Owino declined to comment on the matter.
On Tuesday, Chebukati protested the withdrawal of his bodyguards alongside those of commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu.
The bodyguards have not been reinstated despite Chebukati formally writing to the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett to demand answers.
It has also emerged that the withdrawal affected acting CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan, whose police driver and bodyguard were recalled on Tuesday evening.
