Piece by: PERPETUA ETYANG

27 August 2022

• Cherera said they, together with commissioners Justus Nyang'aya, Francis Wanderi and Irene Masit have experienced lack of transparency when working under the IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati.

• She listed six ways in which she said Chebukati acted in defiance of normal procedure at the commission.

Juliana Cherera, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission vice chair has filed a response to the presidential election petition filed by Azimio leader Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua.

In the petition, Cherera was listed as the 5th respondent. In an affidavit seen by the Star, Cherera said they, together with commissioners Justus Nyang'aya, Francis Wanderi, and Irene Masit, have experienced a lack of transparency when working under the IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati.

Cherera listed six ways in which she said Chebukati acted in defiance of normal procedure at the commission.

First, she said Chebukati unilaterally transferred returning officers without consulting fellow commissioners as would be the norm.

"Returning officers are permanent members of staff at IEBC who could only be transferred after 5 years but Wafula Chebukati, in a departure from this transfer policy, transferred the ROs on 30th March 2022 without the approval of the commission," she said.

She added that IEBC Chair failed to convene a meeting to appraise the commission on the implementation of the recommendation of the report on the independent audit of the register of voters by KPMG.

Cherera further faulted Chebukati for failing to complete the recruitment of the director of voter registration and director of elections.

Cherera also accused Chebukati of usurping the role of the chairperson commission legal Committee, ICT Committee, and deputy C.E.O Operations in complete disregard for good corporate governance.

The affidavit also fingered Chebukati for issuing unilateral press statements without consulting the commission