Former IEBC commissioners place Chebukati at the centre of all Scandals

Is IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati responsible for the questionable spending of Sh 9 billion? Former IEBC Commissioners have blamed chairman Wafula Chebukati over the procurement of electoral materials that saw Auditor General Edward Ouko question the spending of Sh9 billion.

Ex-commissioners Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat yesterday told MPs that Chebukati had an interest in the multi-billion tenders at the commission and even set up a procurement committee of three commissioners.

Public Accounts Committee Chairman Opiyo Wandayi (L) with Jessica Mbalu and Junet Mohamed when former IEBC commissioners Paul Kurgat and Margaret appeared before them yesterday / JACK OWUOR

The Procurement and Finance Committee formed by Chebukati was chaired by Kurgat and had Mwachanya and former vice-chairperson Connie Nkatha as members.

According to the law, procurement is an exclusive function of the secretariat while commissioners come up with policies and also offer oversight.

In a day of blame games and counter-accusations, the two commissioners also claimed that they bolted out of the divided commission due to Chebukati’s poor leadership.

They confessed Chebukati was out to sacrifice sacked CEO Ezra Chiloba.

They claimed Chiloba framed a strategy to kick him out using an inquiry into the internal audit at IEBC.

Appearing before the commission last month, Chebukati told MPs that the three commissioners who resigned were against investigations into the alleged irregularities in procurement.

In the run-up to last year’s polls, the commission awarded over 100 tenders for materials and services running into billions of shillings.

The commissioners, however, denied knowledge that some of them fronted some companies for the lucrative IEBC tenders.

Image result for wafula chebukati memes

Last week, Chiloba confessed that both Chebukati and commissioner Abdi Guliye bided for some companies to be awarded tenders.

Auditor General Edward Ouko in a special report covering the electioneering period disclosed a possible loss of billions of taxpayers’ money around the commission’s procurement.

“You and other commissioners attempted to frustrate an inquiry into alleged procurement malpractices,” PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi told the ex-commissioners.

Do you think Chebukati is the only one to blame for the tenders that saw sh 9 billion misused?

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