One of the 36 candidates shortlisted for the appointment of Commissioners of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has withdrawn his candidature.
Abdala Mohamed opted out of the interview session on Wednesday where he was to appear with two others after Kenya Methodist University disowned his degree certificate.
In a letter to the chairperson of the Selection Panel Elizabeth Muli, the university Vice-Chancellor said: “This is to confirm that Abdala was not a student of Kenya Methodist University. The academic certificate BUS-1-206-05 was not issued by Kenya Methodist University and is, therefore, a forgery.”
Mohamed was to be interviewed alongside Abdirizak Arale Nunow and Anne Mwikali Kiusya at County Hall.
The shortlisted candidates are seeking to replace four IEBC commissioners who resigned after the 2017 general elections.
Those who resigned were Roselyn Akombe, Paul Kurgat, Margaret Mwachanya and Connie Maina.
Akombe resigned before the 2017 repeat presidential polls while she was on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. She currently works with United Nations in New York.
Before their exit in 2018, then commissioners Nkatha, Mwachanya and Kurgat faulted the commission’s chair Wafula Chebukati’s ability to lead the electoral body.
“For far too long and way too many times, the commission chair has failed to be the steady and stable hand that steers the ship in difficult times and gives direction when needed.
“Instead under Chebukati’s leadership, the commission boardroom has become a venue for peddling misinformation, grounds for brewing mistrust and a space for scrambling and chasing individual glory and credit,” the three said.
Nkatha and Mwachanya were appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in October 2020 as Deputy Heads of Mission to Rome, Italy and Islamabad, Pakistan respectively.
