Plans to hire 300,000 temporary employees are underway-Chebukati

By Judy Jerono The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will hire 300,000 temporary workers ahead of the August general elections. The exercise which is expected to kick off soon will see IEBC spend Ksh. 6 billion to facilitate recruitment and remuneration. Speaking during the Anglican Church of Kenya Bishops and Senior Clergy conference, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati stated that the commission will ensure that it conducts free and fair elections and that for them to achieve that they will need enough manpower. At the same time, Chebukati talked about the summons they have issued to politicians over hate speech adding that the commission is not powerless despite the High Court judgment that the commission has no mandate to hear such matters. This is after the High Court judge Anthony Mrima barred the IEBC from hearing the vote-rigging cases against Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege and Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria. “We invited some two individuals to appear before us but a high court judgement that came up that struck out the election code of conduct committee. What does that mean? That our teeth have been removed? That we can only drink porridge,” he posed. “It means that cases that come ups during the campaign, we form an investigation team to investigate and forward the same to the Director of Public Prosecution,” he added. On the other hand, the Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit challenged the IEBC chair that the electoral agency needs to prepare well for the August polls adding that IEBC owes Kenyans a transparent tallying process of the results at all levels. Ole Sapit advised that early preparations for the coming general election will allow IEBC to conduct peaceful elections. [caption id="attachment_17701" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo Courtesy: IEBC Facebook page[/caption] In late March, the fake job advertisement was trending on social media claiming that the IEBC was looking to employ 262,665 polling and counting clerks, ahead of the polls, who will work for 9 days on payment of Ksh 1,000 every day. The electoral agency was forced to speak out where the commission alerted Kenyans via their social media accounts that the notice was fake.