Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati has demanded a comprehensive statement of the state of investigations into the commission’s staff murders.
Chebukati hit back at the rate at which the staff were being assaulted, attacked, intimidated and killed.
He said it was a sad tragedy that in every election year, after five months, IEBC staff had to be killed.
“Why must an IEBC officer be murdered after every five years? Our crime is only performing our constitutional duty. Five years ago we lost ICT manager Chris Musando while two weeks ago Daniel Musyoka was murdered,” Chebukati said.
“Their crime was serving the nation diligently and honestly. We cannot continue like this, we cannot keep making working for IEBC a death sentence. A place where honest professionals are persecuted.”
The chairman said their work was to prepare a register of voters, not a register of murdered staff members.
“Our job is to prepare for polls, not to prepare graves of our murdered staff,” he said.
Chebukati said it beats logic that with the sophisticated technology the investigating agencies had, they have not been able to resolve these mysterious murders.
He said it was time that the agencies use their constitutional and operational calling and conclude the investigations to resolve the murder cases.
“As long as these murders remain unresolved, they will not only create an environment and culture of intimidation but also create impunity where perpetrators of these heinous acts go scot-free,” the chairman said.
“IEBC is a vital institution. Kenya is not a failed state, it should be a country where we feel the rule of law is maintained at all times including during the electioneering period,” he said.
Chebukati said as a commission they demand a comprehensive statement of the state of investigations.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
