Former IEBC Commissioner Molu Boya has waded into Former commission chair Wafula Chebukati's presentation in Portugal.
Boya on Tuesday reacted to a video shared by Chebukati in his presentation.
The video showed how on August 13, 2022 hours before Chebukati announced the election results at the Bomas of Kenya on September 15, 2022, pandemonium hit the auditorium with a section of leaders allied to Opposition leader and Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga attempting to disrupt the exercise.
Reacting to the video, Boya referred to the events as a national shame, calling out the perpetrators.
"That was a national shame!! That black spot that would forever remain part of our country’s history. Shame on the perpetrators!!" he said.
In his keynote address at the 19th International Electoral Affairs Symposium and Awards ceremony in Portugal on Tuesday, Chebukati said the Supreme Court affirmed technology's role in delivering credible 2022 Kenyan polls.
"The Supreme Court stated the following in its judgment: 'The technology deployed by the IEBC for the conduct of the 2022 general elections met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency to guarantee accurate and verifiable results," Chebukati told the symposium held in Lisbon.
Despite the success of leveraging technology for increased election integrity, he noted, impunity still reigned during the 2022 elections.
"Technology – even when leveraged at its best - cannot cure impunity in elections. With all these unimpeachable technological measures in place, violence was still meted on election officials during the 2022 General Election," he said.
"A Returning Officer was murdered, staff members were kidnapped, service providers were harassed, and several were injured in the run-up to the results declaration event at the Bomas of Kenya."
Early this year, Ex-IEBC Commissioner Abdi Guliye revealed he went into hiding for three days following the August 2022 Bomas of Kenya drama.
Guliye said he was with the commission's CEO Marjan Marjan and Commissioner Boya Molu at an unknown location.
"After the Bomas announcement of the presidential results, I recall going into Siberia in my own county together with CEO Marjan and Commissioner Molu, we went into hiding, put off our phones and left them at Bomas," he said.
After six years of service, Chebukati and two ex-commissioners left the commission after their term ended on January 17, 2023.
Chebukati said they conducted a successful general election in August last year.
He said he had set the bar for the incoming commission.
The former IEBC boss said together with the ex-commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye, they had set a pace for their successors.
"We believe the pace has been set and I take this opportune moment to wish our successors all the best as they pick the baton from us to take the elections of this country to the next level,” Chebukati said.
