Proposed chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Erastus Ethekon has revealed that applying for the job was not in his plans.
Ethekon appeared before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) on Saturday morning, May 31, to have his suitability to steer the electoral agency assessed.
He told the committee chaired by Tharaka MP George Murugara that he never had interest in the post due to the stereotyping by the Kenyan public.
According to Ethekon, two cyber cafe attendants urged him to give it a shot, having known his qualifications.
His reservations were informed by the malicious talks about chairpersons of the electoral agency, saying he didn't want to put himself on the spot.
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He therefore resolved to apply for the commission's member job, but the cyber attendants insisted he also go for the chairman job.
Ethekon appeared to shock the committee when he revealed that his application was done by the cyber attendants without his input other than sending them his documents.
"I was reluctant even to apply for this job given the negativity and all these things around this position but at the cyber cafe where I normally photocopy my things and my papers even for my work in South Africa, the young people in that cyber cafe, Peter, Purity and Kizito, they are the people who urged me to put in my application because looking at my documents and having conversations with me over tea, they thought and they felt that you have what it takes to lead this country in this institution and at first I thought maybe I should just apply for the commission and you know the hot seat, leave it alone but they actually went and submitted the documents both for the chair and for member so when I was in South Africa they sent me a screenshot, we've submitted the documents and later on when I was on my way to I think Angola or something, I saw my name in the newspapers that have been shortlisted," he said.
Meanwhile, the proposed chairman told the committee that his net worth stood at KSh 276.8 million.
He revealed that his assets comprise land, livestock, shares in Safaricom and vehicles.
"My net worth is estimated at Sh 276,882,237 made up of mainly assets, land, livestock, some Safaricoom shares and motor vehicles. Currently, my sources of income are from my earnings from the African Union Development Agency. The county government of Turkana still owes me my gratuity," he said.
Should his nomination be approved, Ethekon will be the third chairman of IEBC, coming after the late Wafula Chebukati and Isaack Hassan.
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