I Was Booed In Chebukati's Presence- Cherera

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) vice-chairperson, Juliana Cherera revealed that she was heckled alongside three of her colleagues in a four-day workshop organised by the commission in Mombasa.

The retreat held on Thursday, September 15 saw all four of the commissioners attend, having disputed their boss, chairperson Wafula Chebukati, over the results of the 2022 general elections announced exactly a month ago.

Cherera, Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang'aya were ridiculed by the irate staff who accused them of trying to divide the commission.

She confirmed the incident while speaking to the media, but pointed out that a section of the staff had praised them in equal measure. She accused Chebukati of watching on in silence as the staff kept berating them.

"Yes, I was booed. The other commissioners were booed too. But amidst the booing, some cheered for us."

"The chairman was in attendance and watched silently as some clusters of staff booed us and he did not raise a finger to stop them," she said.

During the retreat, Chebukati made a ruthless evaluation of Cherera and the three commissioners who had opposed him, accusing them of being responsible for the arbitrary arrest of IEBC staff. He also revealed that they lied to members of the public and that they were handed minor roles by the chairman during the electioneering period.

He also blamed them for maligning the Commission, and that the chaos that was caused at Bomas on the day of announcing the presidential results saw him and commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, and CEO Marjan Hussein subjected to assault and bodily harm.

"The most unfortunate incident was the false accusation by commissioners and fellow staff - under oath - that exposed innocent hardworking staff to arbitrary arrests and abductions, intimidation and harassment by security agencies and political goons, and other forms of obstructing election officials from conducting their duties.

"These shameless attacks amounting to election offences were perpetrated by, among others, persons regarded as national leaders in full view of the whole nation and the world at large," he stated.

Chebukati noted that after the commissioners joined; the four who broke away, IEBC had established committees with each commissioner chairing one.

He said that this was for the purposes of enhancing the policy and strategy formulation, and oversight function of the commission.

He noted that IEBC's primary role in the 2022 general elections was to ensure that the poll results were verified, tallied and announced. It, therefore, meant that all the members of the commission had unrestricted access to the floor of the tallying centre to monitor and supervise the election results verification process.

In addition, all staff of the IEBC, including Cherera, were assigned duties to manage critical components of the election including the postponement of the Mombasa and Kakamega gubernatorial races

"It is therefore insincere for any member of the commission and senior staff to allege that they were barred from providing assistance to the election management process. It is even tragic that some members of the commission would petition the Supreme Court of Kenya to nullify results that we collectively worked under difficult circumstances to deliver for the people of Kenya.

"The unfounded allegations that the election results management process was opaque is totally oblivious to the fact that returning officers had to spend a minimum of three days at the national tallying as their return of results were verified in the presence of agents, the media and observers before the announcement," he added.