Hassan trashes graft claims against the IIEC

Written By:Kendagor Obadiah,    Posted: Wed, Aug 03, 2011

IIEC Chair Issack Hassan said the graft and nepotism allegations are mere propaganda by those keen on heading the IEBC The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) now claims that plans are being mooted to discredit its commissioners in a bid to block them from being appointed to the yet to be constituted Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). In what could turn out to be internal strife and battling for positions in the yet to be formed IEBC, the IIEC chairman Issack Hassan has alluded that some forces both within and without the commission are conspiring to lock him and his commissioners out of the proposed electoral body. Addressing journalists in Nairobi Wednesday, Hassan defended the electoral body saying that it has conducted its work with integrity since it took over from the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). Investigations carried out by the commission revealed that the allegations made against the commission and which were published in a section of the media had been authored by the personal assistant to the IIEC Chief Elecoral Officer James Oswago. He said the CEO who is out of the country on an official trip has been recalled to shed more light on the issue. He added that Oswago's PA Allan Odongo has since been suspended pending further investigations. This revelation raised suspicion as to whether James Oswago is one of the hopefuls eyeing the IEBC positions, and if indeed he is the mastermind of the smear campaign against the commission. The IIEC's term comes to an end immediately the new electoral body, the IEBC, is constituted. A panel to interview individuals to sit on the commission has already been put in place.