IEBC fires suspended CEO Ezra Chiloba in new twist

Suspended Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba (pictured) dramatically announced his own firing last night following protracted wrangles between him and the commission.

In a social media post titled “announcing my firing”, Chiloba said he received the termination letter yesterday but complained that the process was predetermined and unfair.

The decision was made on Thursday evening after a defiant Chiloba snubbed summons to appear before a disciplinary hearing of the commission relating to post-election spending audit.

Chiloba (above) had objected to appearing before the committee, insisting on being given access to defence documentation left in his office following his suspension several months ago.

“My employment with the IEBC has officially been terminated. This does not come as a surprise to Kenyans who have been monitoring the events at the IEBC in the last six months. The outcome was already predetermined and the process was a mere formality,” he said.

Dismissal letter

The dismissal letter said Chiloba had twice been invited to appear before the disciplinary committee of the commission “but I failed to show up; hence the decision to terminate his employment”.

But Chiloba says in the first summon, he was away attending classes at the University of Oxford, where he is pursuing a masters in major programme management. It is also claimed his salary had been stopped way back in July.

“I communicated my unavailability to commissioners through the chairman’s office via email,” he said. In the second summon, Chiloba says he was convinced from the commission conduct that the proceedings were “a mere formality.” He cited the manner of his suspension based on “stage-managed internal audit” and failure to allow him to access evidence.

He also complained that the same three commissioners who voted to send him away were the same members of the disciplinary committee. By the time of going to press, IEBC had not released official statement with regard to the firing of the CEO.