Kimemia writes to IEBC over CORD claims

By Roselyne Obala and Lorna Kibet

Nairobi, Kenya: Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia has written to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission over allegations he was campaigning for the Jubilee alliance.

IEBC chairman Isaack Hassan said Kimemia together with Internal Security PS Mutea Iringo had refuted the allegations in a “detailed” report they filed with the commission.

Last week Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka demanded that Kimemia resigns “to concentrate in campaigns for having transformed himself into a ‘jubilee activist’.”

The two accused Kimemia of mobilising the Provincial Administration to campaign for Jubilee.

Kimemia has failed to directly respond to the allegations in as many days, instead preferring to communicate though Government Spokesman Muthui Kariuki who refuted claims of plot to rig elections. He had also earlier issued a memorandum cautioning civil servants that they risk losing their jobs if they are found engaging in political activities.

Election offence

Last week, Kimemia chaired the National Security Advisory Committee, which ironically ordered for a probe into claims some senior Government officials were engaged in partisan politics.

CORD leaders claimed Kimemia had a secret late-night meeting on January 27 with Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto at an exclusive resort on the shores of Lake Elementaita.

It is not known what the closed-door meeting discussed. The complaint then lists another meeting two days later at Nairobi’s Bomas of Kenya at which Kimemia is accused of telling groups of provincial administrators they would be sacked if Raila became President.

CORD says Kimemia was also involved in two more meetings on February 9 and 10 at which State officers and elders from Central Kenya and the Rift Valley were pressed to campaign for Jubilee.

PSs Mutea Iringo (Internal Security) and Joseph Kinyua (Finance), and Kennedy Kihara, an official at the Office of the President, are also named as having participated in some of the meetings.

And Hassan said following the response by Kimemia both CORD and Jubilee alliances will soon face the commission over alleged breach of the Election’s Act.