Kenyan electoral commissioner Roselyn Akombe resigns
Wednesday October 18 2017
Kenya electoral agency commissioner Roselyn Akombe has resigned.
Dr Akombe sent a statement from New York saying that the repeat election as planned by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cannot meet the basic expectations of a credible election.
"The commission in its current state can surely not guarantee a credible election on October 26. I do no want to be party to such a mockery to electoral integrity," she said.
She said the commissioners at the poll agency are serving partisan political interests while the legal advise is skewed to fit these interests.
"It has become increasingly difficult to continue attending plenary meetings where Commissioners come ready to vote along partisan lines and not to discuss the merit of issues before them.
It has become increasingly difficult to appear on television to defend positions I disagree with in the name of collective responsibility," she said.
In her statement, Dr Akombe said the commissioners at the electoral agency are " keen to have an election even if it is at the cost of the lives of our staff and voters".
Dr Akombe was supposed to be part of a team that is in Dubai to monitor the printing of ballot papers.
In a separate interview with the BBC Wednesday, Dr Akombe said her decision to quit the IEBC was also as a result of threats on her life.
Political crisis
In the statement, Akombe said that the political crisis facing the country cannot be resolved by the Commission alone.
"Let us solve the political crisis we have at hand and then chart the way forward towards a credible presidential election. The lessons from 2007/8 are too fresh, lest we forget," she said.