International
Kenya’s top electoral officer flees ahead of rescheduled elections
The Commissioner of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Roselyn Akombe has fled the country for the United States over fears that the rescheduled presidential election set to be staged on October 26 would not be credible.
However, the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta is undeterred by Akombe’s decision to flee the country and has restated his commitment to the poll which will take place next week.
The election board said it has conducted some reforms and the vote will go ahead with seven candidates including Raila Odinga on the ballot.
“We walk towards the declared date of the 26th of October both as a God-fearing leadership and government,” Kenyatta said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Read also: Widespread anger as protests erupt in Kenya over new election law
The fleeing of Akombe is coming a day after Vice President of Kenya William Ruto declared that opposition leader Odinga pulled out of the rescheduled elections not for reasons of principle but to avoid inevitable defeat.
“Odinga is running away from a humiliating defeat,” Ruto told journalists. “He has to find this excuse and that excuse and the other excuse to try and justify his exit.”
He said the government wants Odinga to run but could not force him. “Legitimacy is a matter that concerns us and it concerns us because we believe in a democracy,” he said.
Odinga was due to face President Uhuru Kenyatta on Oct. 26 in a repeat of a presidential vote held in August but he withdrew his candidacy, saying the electoral commission had failed to institute reforms to guarantee fairness.
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