Citing death threats, Roselyn Akombe quits IEBC

Former IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe during a past meeting. /FILE
Former IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe during a past meeting. /FILE

IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe has fled for her life to New York, eight days before the presidential rerun.

Akombe resigned, saying the October 26 repeat presidential polls "absolutely" cannot be credible as they're being organised by a very "divided commission".

Akombe told the BBC in an interview from New York that she personally had received death threats, as had her brother, who already has fled Kenya.

She said one message to her brother said, "Tell you sister to stop asking too many questions and relax or she will be Msando'd." This referred to the torture-murder of former ICT manager Chris Msando in late July.

Read:

Akombe also said the commission was partisan.

She also issued a statement from New York, saying, "The commission in its current state can surely not guarantee a credible election on 26 October 2017," she said in a statement.

She claimed that some staff at the IEBC are getting last minute instructions on changes in technology and electronic transmission of results.

In the statement, Akombe said the IEBC commissioners

vote along partisan lines on very key issues concerning the elections.

"It has become increasingly difficult to appear on television to defend positions I disagree with in the name of collective responsibility. I have concluded that I am no longer making any significant contribution to the commission and to my country as a commissioner," part of her statement read.

“We need the IEBC to be courageous and speak out, that this election as planned cannot meet the basic expectations of credibility. Not when senior secretariat staff and commissioners are serving partisan political interests’, she said.

Akombe said she had "agonised over the decision to leave the IEBC.

"My decision to leave the IEBC will disappoint some of you, but it is not for lack of trying.

"I have tried the best I could do given the circumstances. Sometimes, you walk away, especially when potentially lives are at stake. The commission has become a party to the current crisis. The commission is under siege.

The Supreme Court annulled the result of the original 8 August poll, which saw current President Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner, after finding irregularities.

she said: "Would it be a credible election? Absolutely not.

"There is a very high likelihood that the mistakes that some of the presiding officers made during the last election will be repeated."

Akombe was among the team that went to Dubai to inspect the printing of ballots but proceeded to New York where she penned the resignation letter.

She blamed the electoral agency for being party to the current crisis.

She said some of the commissioners are determined to have an election even if it is at the cost of the lives of staff and voters.

“It would, therefore, have been logical for the Commission to be frank with the Kenyan people and clearly state the challenges we face in organizing a free, fair, and credible election”, she said.

Akombe said it's unacceptable for any party to disrupt, attack and injure IEBC staff in Mumias, Bungoma, Homabay, Siaya, and Kisumu”, she said.

On Saturday,

IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati denied claims that he was also contemplating quitting.

Chebukati, said to have the toughest job in Kenya, alleged that the electoral agency

is intact despite differences of opinion among commissioners.

"There may be differences of opinion but the commission is united and committed to deliver a credible, free and fair elections," he said.

He spoke in

Eldoret, Uasin Gishu, during a training for election officials.

More on this:

On October 10, NASA leader

Raila Odinga dramatically withdrew from the presidential rerun.

President Uhuru Kenyatta insisted elections must go on.

Raila has demanded the removal of secretariat staff that bungled the August vote, removal of IT provider OT Morpho as well as ballot papers printer Al Ghurair.

None of those has been granted.

“After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election, considering the interests of the Kenyan people,

the region and the world at large, we believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October,” Raila announced.

More on this;

Read:

More of this:


Additional reporting from BBC...

WATCH: The latest videos from the Star