IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba Opens Out about a Planned Secret Meeting with Raila Odinga

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba now claims that he had been invited to a secret meeting with opposition leader Raila Odinga, two days before the Supreme Court read its detailed judgement on the nullification of August 8th election.

The electoral commission boss however said that the meeting failed because it had been not been organised through official procedure. He later held a phone conversation with Odinga about the 11 "irreducible minimums" Nasa had presented before IEBC.

“Apparently, someone had organised a meeting between the two of us, which meeting I was never aware of and so I called him to tell him I had not planned any meeting but if he had any issues, we could discuss over the phone and we went through most of those issues around the minimum demands and the need for political commitment to ensure the (repeat) election happens,” Chiloba stated.

Chiloba further says that a similar meeting was organized two weeks ago. He said that he found a lady and a gentleman waiting for him at the reception area of the commission's headquarters at around 1:30 am, after having had a busy day preparing for the repeat election.

Daily Nation reports that Chiloba identified the gentleman as a son to a former MP who is close to the NASA, and offered to take him to one of the Nasa principals. Chiloba however declined the offer as he got suspicious of the time and the manner in which they spoke. He also wondered how a Nasa principal would be waiting to meet him at that time of the night.

He further says that some opposition MPs from Western Kenya, where he hails from, have been torn between supporting their son and calling for his removal, the stand taken by their coalition, Nasa.

“They privately pass messages for the CEO to stay and consider everything else as political... They say, ‘You stay. You are our own. There is nobody who is going to fight you. Let’s see how we will deal with our own affairs internally’,” says Chiloba.

Chiloba has since announced that he has taken a 3-week leave from the commission and will be away during next Thursday's repeat election.