Roselyn Akombe Drops Another Bombshell, Says She Feared Being Poisoned at IEBC

Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Commissioner Roselyn Akombe has opened up on the the infighting that almost crippled the agency during last year’s elections.

In a 93-page report submitted to the electoral commission Chairperson Wafula Chebukati three months after she resigned, Akombe noted that boardroom wars were so grave to an extent that she feared taking meals or drinks served at IEBC meetings.

“One approached the meetings with extreme caution and readiness to protect oneself from either physical or verbal attacks, including being cautious of meals served at the boardroom,” says Akombe in the report detailing her experience at the commission.

In the report, Akombe, who had presented herself as the face of the commission, further admits to telling lies during a press briefing after the Commissioners held a retreat in Naivasha to iron out their differences.

During the media briefing, Akombe announced that the Commissioners had buried their differences and were ready to hold the repeat presidential polls.

However, Akombe in the report says she only made the announced to save IEBC's face and that the Naivasha retreat failed to address deep-rooted grievances, with CEO Ezra Chiloba allegedly blocking attempts to discuss operational challenges.

Akombe also points out that the chair was so incapacitated that at one point, she became Chebukati’s speech writer.

“I became the de facto note speech-writer for the Chairman due to limited capacity at the Commission,” she says. “I also became de facto note-taker for informal meetings at the Chairman’s office.”

Akombe’s leaked report come days after three Commissioners namely; Consolata Nkatha, Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya, quit the agency, citing lack of faith in Chebukati's leadership.

In the document, Akombe details the problems she thinks is ailing the electoral commission including decisions made on the procurement of election technology, ballot papers, as well as supremacy wars between IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati and CEO Ezra Chiloba.

“The ballot papers saga is one in which we the commissioners were held captive by the secretariat… this was the trend in high-cost issues. Time was used as a way of tying your hands to take the decision that the CEO had wanted from the very beginning,” Akombe says.

“There was a running joke that the only meetings which commission staff would attend on time were the tender evaluation committee meetings. The trend is the same when it comes to tenders at the constituency level.”

She also questions the results transmission system, where she wonders why the margin between presidential candidates Kenyatta and Odinga remained constant.

“It is such situations that will forever leave questions in my mind of what actually happened on August 8th,” says Akombe.

“Technology cannot replace trust, credibility and transparency. If the country decides that it needs to use technology in its elections, then the commission needs to move away from inventing new technology each and every election year and use existing technology that has been used continuously by other countries,” she says in her recommendations.

“Even if the world’s best commissioners are recruited to manage the 2022 elections, the process will not address the deep grievances that I heard as I traveled across the country. Delivery of a free fair and credible election in 2022 requires more than electoral reforms and electoral justice. It requires a rebirth of Kenya,” she says.
Akombe fled to the United States a week to the October 26th, 2017 repeat presidential elections, where she announced her resignation citing fear for her life among other issues.