Wafula Chebukati, Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has downplayed reports alleging divisions within the electoral body following the abrupt arrival of ballot papers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) last week.
Concerns were raised about IEBC infighting after a section of officials stated that they were only informed at the eleventh hour that the first consignment of ballot papers would be arriving in the country on July 7.
Chebukati dismissed the allegations during a media interview on election preparedness, noting that it is not the commission’s mandate to procure and receive election materials or organize logistics, so any talk of divisions at the commission is merely mere speculation.
“The commission deals with policy, strategy and oversight. That is our work; we make decisions. If it is about printing ballot papers we tell the secretariat to go and procure a firm. When it comes to printing ballot papers, they give us samples of how they are going to print the papers and if satisfied we tell them to proceed and print,” said Chebukati.
He added that the Contract Implementation Team (CIT) is solely responsible for procuring election materials, which he claims is mandated by law to ensure that all procurement processes, including ballot proofing for the purpose of ballot papers and freight, run smoothly before the polls.
“The team in charge is the CIT and now they have a schedule of up to July 29, 2022 to ensure that the ballot papers are ferried into the country,” said Chebukati.
The IEBC Chair also explained why he and other IEBC officials went to JKIA to receive ballot papers despite not being involved in the procurement process.
Chebukati claimed that his appearance was merely a formality to reassure Kenyans that the ballot papers had arrived safely.
“On the day in question at around 6pm I got a call that the first batch would arrive the next day and I informed the commissioners. We had another function the next day with Mkenya daima and it was agreed that some commissioners would go to the function while half would remain behind to receive the papers,” he said.
“It’s not that I went to receive the papers it was just a symbolic appearance to show the country that we have witnessed the coming of the ballot papers and we immediately left afterwards.”Â
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