Employment and Labour relations court has given the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman and two others 30 days to show why contempt of court proceedings should not be commenced against them.
Justice Stephen Radido issued notice to the Chair, Wafula Chebukati, commissioners Abdil Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu to show cause as to why they should not be committed to civil jail for contempt of court.
The three have been cited for contempt for disregarding an earlier order directing them to reinstate the embattled Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ezra Chiloba.
The labour court issued the order that Chiloba be reinstated on 14th June 2018.
The CEO filed a contempt application seeking to commit the Chair and the above named Commissioners to civil jail for disobeying the court order.
In his earlier judgment, the judge said that it was not clear why the Commission and its chairman did not explain why they relied on a broad provision of law rather that the specific contractual provisions in dealing with the matter.
The CEO accused Chebukati, Guliye and Molu of acting in their personal interest and not for the benefit of the public as alleged.
However, Chebukati defended the suspension arguing that it was done in good faith.
He added that the move was meant to enable the commission to undertake a comprehensive audit of all the major procurements that related to the August 2017 General and the repeat poll held on 26th October.
Chiloba accused the Chair of orchestrating his removal because of differences on issues such as assignment of duties to staff, the procurement of the KIEMs kits and ballot papers, in addition to the way last year’s presidential elections were conducted.
He further said that he was never given a chance to defend himself and the Internal Audit Report upon which the decision to send him on leave was premised upon, has never been formally presented to him.
Contrary to the above, Chebukati claimed that Chiloba was given a chance to respond to the questions regarding the procurement of the electoral materials in so far as the procurement of the 2017 electoral materials were concerned.
