Unic Press UK: A high-ranking official at Kenya’s electoral commission, Roselyn Akombe quit, fled to the United States as the presidential election rerun date gets closer. She’s of the view that the Kenyan 2017 presidential election rerun scheduled to hold next week will not be credible.
In a Press Statement in New York on 17th October 2017, Akombe, who used to be an election commissioner in Kenya, said:
“… I have questioned my role as a Commissioner at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. But I have soldiered on hoping that we could collectively find a way of addressing the crisis our country faces today… It broke my heart in the last few days, to listen to my staff in the field, majority of whom truly want to do the right thing, express to me their safety and security concerns. We need the Commission to be courageous to speak out that this election as planned cannot meet the basic expectation of a CREDIBLE election… Not when commissioners and staff are intimidated by political actors and protesters and fear for their lives. “
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga last week withdrew of the rerun election slated for 29 October, saying:
“There is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and parts of the personnel to ensure that the illegalities and irregularities that led to the invalidation of 8th of August do not happen again. Indications are that elections scheduled for the 26th of October will be worse than the previous one. In the interest of the people of Kenya, the region and world at large, we believe that all will be best served by (opposition alliance) NASA vacating the presidential candidature of elections,” Odinga said at a news conference in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi.
The incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta, whose reelection was invalidated by Kenya’s Supreme Court on 1st September 2017, has accused Odinga of pulling out of the presidential election rerun after concluding that the opposition will be defeated.
The Supreme Court of Kenya had annulled the result of the first contest with a verdict that was backed by 4 of the 6 Supreme Court judges. The court indicted the umpire, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, berating the Commission for announcing unverified results.
