KENYA: Electoral commissioners resign over leadership fight

Half of Kenya’s electoral board has resigned “with immediate effect”, as the commissioners cited lack of faith in the organisation’s leadership. Vice chair of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Connie Nkatha Maina and two commissioners – Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat – said they left their posts because they have no faith in […]

Half of Kenya’s electoral board has resigned “with immediate effect”, as the commissioners cited lack of faith in the organisation’s leadership.

Vice chair of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Connie Nkatha Maina and two commissioners – Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat – said they left their posts because they have no faith in chair Wafula Chebukati, adding that the organisation is dysfunctional.

“The institution has continued to be dysfunctional, with arbitrary decision-making, leaking of internal documents … and pursuing of personal interests,” the three officials said in a statement released at a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “The chairman has, in several instances, failed to be the steady and stable hand to steer the commission ship,” the statement added.