{"id":362877,"date":"2017-10-18T08:18:45","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T08:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=362877"},"modified":"2017-10-18T08:18:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T08:18:45","slug":"kenya-election-official-roselyn-akombe-flees-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/kenya-election-official-roselyn-akombe-flees-to-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya election official Roselyn Akombe flees to US"},"content":{"rendered":"
A senior member of Kenya’s electoral commission (IEBC) has resigned, saying the country is unable to hold credible elections next week.<\/p>\n
Roselyn Akombe said the IEBC was under political “siege”, unable to reach consensus or take any decisions.<\/p>\n
Now in the US, she told the BBC she had feared for her safety while in Kenya after receiving numerous threats.<\/p>\n
Last week, opposition leader Raila Odinga pulled out of the 26 October presidential run-off.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court annulled the result of the original 8 August poll, which saw current President Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner, after finding irregularities and illegalities.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Ms Akombe said she had “agonised over the decision to leave the IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission).<\/p>\n
“My decision to leave the IEBC will disappoint some of you, but it is not for lack of trying.<\/p>\n
“I have tried the best I could do given the circumstances. Sometimes, you walk away, especially when potentially lives are at stake. The commission has become a party to the current crisis. The commission is under siege.<\/p>\n
“The commission in its current state can surely not guarantee a credible election on 26 October 2017.”<\/p>\n
And in an interview with the BBC’s Newsday programme,\u00a0she said: “Would it be a credible election? Absolutely not.<\/p>\n
“There is a very high likelihood that the mistakes that some of the presiding officers made during the last election will be repeated.”<\/p>\n
Speaking from New York, she said IEBC members had been voting along partisan lines, without discussing different issues on merit.<\/p>\n
Commissioners and other IEBC personnel were facing intimidation by political actors and protesters, Ms Akombe said.<\/p>\n
She also revealed that she herself had received a number of anonymous threats, and had been put under pressure to resign.<\/p>\n
“I have never felt the kind of fear that I felt in my own country.”<\/p>\n
She said she did not “feel safe enough to be able to go home” in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
The IEBC has so far made no public comments on the issue.<\/p>\n
Election positions<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Odinga, who leads the opposition – the National Super Alliance (Nasa) – said last week: “We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel.<\/p>\n