IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and CEO Ezra Chiloba arrive at the press conference where they released the status report on mass voter registration and election preparedness at the Anniversary Towers on February 21, 2017.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has put CEO Ezra Chiloba on the spot over "irregularities and illegalities" that led to nullification of the presidential vote.
In a stern memo on Tuesday to the CEO, Chebukati seeks answers to 12 issues, including why his account was created and used to undertake 9,934 transactions in the IEBC server without his knowledge and consent.
In the leaked memo, the chairman asks why 595 polling stations failed to send any presidential results, while 682 polling stations had identical numbers of rejected votes.
The damning, detailed, three-page memo is the first admission by the IEBC chief that the August 8 General Election was deeply flawed.
Chebukati did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Late last evening, the bitter IEBC split became even more pronounced after five of the seven commissioners disowned the explosive memo.
The commissioners, who also opposed Chebukati's purge, said in a press statement the memo was not sanctioned by the commission plenary and dismissed some issues as false
“A quick perusal of the memo shows the allegations are based on some report or information that has not been brought to the attention of the Commission.
" Most of the issues raised are not factual and could easily mislead if taken out of context. However, the Secretariat is reviewing the issues and will prepare appropriate responses to be presented to the Commission Plenary,” the Commissioners said.
It was signed by Vice Chair Consolata Maina, Abdi Guliye, Paul Kurgat, Boya Molu and Margaret Mwachanya.
Chebukati's memo said, “Mr Paul Mugo and Mr Boniface Wamae — under instruction from Director, ICT Mr James Muhati availed a memo dated 31 August, 2017, to the Chairman's office ... which memo confirmed creation of a username account and password in the name of the Chairman of IEBC without my knowledge or consent, and subsequently this account was used to undertake over 9,934 transactions,” Chebukati wrote.
“I direct you take immediate action against these officers and report back by close of business today.”
In his dossier rejected by Supreme Court judges, Opposition chief Raila Odinga said Chebukati's account had 9,934 transaction logs and was used to upload and delete forms from constituencies.
“This is what we said 10,000 Forms 34As were altered in the servers using the password of the chairman. This our experts found from the logs they were given by the IEBC themselves when they refused to open the server,” Raila told reporters yesterday.
An agitated Raila called President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto "a shame to the country for staging a daring robbery on the will of the people of Kenya".
“So Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, shame on you! You should not be standing in front of Kenyans chest-thumping how you won the elections. You did not win. Allow the people of Kenya to democratically elect their leaders. You and your deputy William Ruto are a big shame to the nation,” Raila said.
Uhuru and Ruto led the Jubilee campaign yesterday in Bungoma where Kenyatta said he won the election with a clear majority. He apparently was unaware of the memo, saying nothing about it.
He said he is committed to peace and respects the law. He previously has been ranting against the David Maraga-led court, calling them wakora (bandits) and threatening retribution.
Yesterday Uhuru said he is ready for a rerun. Ruto expressed confidence Kenyatta will win with a bigger margin than the 1.8 million nullified.
“We will beat the Opposition just like we did on August 8. We will double or triple our votes,” he said.
The DP asked why opposition leaders had no faith in the IEBC, yet NASA MPs, governors and MCAs, their elections were managed by the electoral body, have been sworn in.
He appeared not to be familiar with Chebukati's memo.
Yesterday, Raila said former CS Davis Chirchir, Jubilee's chief agent at Bomas of Kenya, also posted results in the IEBC server. Chirchir did not answer requests for comment.
Raila said, “They started entering data on the server on the 7th of August, a day before the polls. What happened is so criminal. And that is why we have been saying Jubilee people actually belong in jail."
In his memo, Chebukati asks why the commission used statutory forms without security features, contrary to contract specifications to Dubai printer Al Ghurair.
“Respond and explain what happened to printed forms that were meant to have various approved security features and names of candidates printed in accordance with ballot proofs and as verified by due diligence teams the Commission sent to Dubai,” the chairman demanded.
In the Judiciary-commissioned audit of controversial Forms 34B, it was discovered 56 forms had no water marks, while 31 had no serial numbers.
Chebukati asked why the commission bought Sh848 million satellite phones for all constituencies and tallying centres yet none worked on Election Day.
“The phones were to be distributed to each constituency and county tallying centre. Additionally, areas with no network were specifically supplied with these devices. However, none ever worked,” Chebukati said.
“Respond and explain what occasioned the massive failure in the devices that would have been used in transmitting the results.”
The chairman asked what went wrong with KIEMS results transmission system where 10,336 polling stations sent text results without accompanying Forms 34As.
The polling stations where text results were sent without forms have 4.6 million registered voters, Chebukati said.
“The failure is contrary to the plenary decision directing that where a presiding officer was unable to transmit results [text, forms] from their polling station, they were required to move to the constituency tallying centre or use satellite devices where available,” he stated.
According to Chebukati, the KIEMS system sometimes could not detect that an individual had already voted a loophole for double voting.
"Respond how many voters were subsequently allowed to vote by manual identification and why," he demanded.
The IEBC boss asks whether printing and scanning machines acquired from MFI company were supplied fit for purpose where they were availed, failed to work and why.
“Respond and explain why the Commission adopted and used a porous file server system to transmit Forms 34B, instead of creating and using secure IP addresses, which made it easy for individuals to manage accounts on each others' behalf a clear security risk,” Chebukati said.
“Further respond and explain why the Commission used the subject server for day-to-day operations prior to elections, and also why the staff in the ICT directorate used passwords different from the IEBC passwords.”
Chebukati asks why KIEMS, GPRS and Geo-fencing features were switched off from August 5, three days from the polls.
Thus, it was not possible to locate where the kits were used or where statutory forms were uploaded.
Chebukati blasted Chiloba for appearing to contradict him in an internal memo to staff, congratulating them despite the Supreme Court's ruling on September 1.
“The memo also fails to appreciate the grave indictment by the Supreme Court in the above subject petition, with regard to how the Commission conducted the impugned presidential election,” he said.
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