However, the IEBC has not made any announcement on Mr Atwoli’s appointment on the commission’s website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. IEBC communications manager Edgar Aswani also confirmed to PesaCheck that the claim is not true.
“The matter of the appointment of the IEBC CEO is still in court and as you are aware, courts are still not fully operational. Therefore, once and if the matter is concluded, it will be a matter of public knowledge and we shall also communicate the same. The commission’s acting CEO is Marjan Hussein Marjan,” Mr Aswani said.
On May 21, 2019, IEBC advertised the position of the commission secretary and CEO and received 95 applications.
“Mr Atwoli was not one of the shortlisted candidates, and even if he was, the matter awaits the court to give direction,” Mr Aswani said.
The communications manager also clarified that the appointment of the CEO follows a clear recruitment process, where the position is advertised in the local dailies and the commission’s website. This is followed by the shortlisting of candidates who have applied for the position and meet the requirements. The commission then interviews prospective candidates and through this final stage selects the person best suited for the post.
This is not the first time that a false post has claimed that Mr Atwoli has been appointed to the IEBC. On May 12, another post claimed that he had replaced Wafula Chebukati, who had purportedly resigned as the chairman.
However, Capital FM shared a similar claim in the form of a screenshot of an SMS news alert which included a link to the news organisation’s website and denounced it as fake.
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that Francis Atwoli has been appointed CEO of the IEBC, and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
