Issack Hassan: Oswago Was An ODM Insider In IEBC And Was Leaking Info To Press

Meanwhile, Oswago found out that we were not on the plane, and thereafter he got wind of what had transpired. He called me while still attending the training sessions in the Philippines. I informed him that we were going to sack him, as we had discovered what he and his PA had been up to.

“Oh no, Chairman, please wait,” he said. “Let me get back, I need to explain this to you.”

In panic, he immediately cut short the trip after the first two days. He was full of apologies when we eventually met. As annoying as it was, he displayed the same traits as his PA—denying any involvement in the dossier we had discovered.

“Please Chairman, it was not me. Please give me a little bit more time to investigate my PA and get to the bottom of this thing,” he begged.

I let him know that the commission was not going to be taken for a ride and that he should just admit he was guilty. Many of the documents we discovered contained detailed information about commission meetings we had convened, with him in attendance. The exact timelines when I adjourned the meetings to attend prayers, or at the end of the day were captured, as well as the discussions we had in the meeting. There was no way an outsider could have been the source of these details, and I informed him as much. The evidence pointed at him, as there were mentions of particular conversations by the commissioners.

The commissioners were also fed up, and they were in agreement that he should be sacked, though three of them were still against it. These were Nzibo, (Simiyu Abuid) Wasike and (Douglas)Mwashigadi. Nzibo was a former civil servant, and his wife, Dr. Sally Kosgei, was the ODM Member of Parliament for Aldai Constituency, and a minister in the coalition government.

As part of the needful strategic considerations in a coalition government, I called the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammed Isahakiah, to let him know that we were about to sack Oswago. He advised that I should first see the Prime Minister before proceeding with this decision, and I made an appointment to meet him. The PA to the Prime Minister, Major Idriss Abdirahman, also reached out to me and told me to be cautious on the matter. The concern of the two was that Oswago was the only ‘Luo’ face in the top leadership of the commission. When I finally had the Prime Minister’s audience, I went straight to the point.

“Prime Minister, we have evidence against Oswago and his PA. They have been leaking information to the media, and the commission has decided to sack him,” I said, as I displayed the documents before him. The Prime Minister seemed to be in deep thought. He stood up, walked to the window of his office, and looked outside.

“This is very bad, Chairman, very bad,” he said.

He then made a request that the commission should allow Oswago to stay and not sack him, insisting that he would talk to him. He pointed out that it would be good for him as the Prime Minister if Oswago stayed. He reminded me that the commission needed the support of his office. Being in a coalition government meant that the two coalition partners would be critical in the formation of IEBC, which would take over after IIEC’s two-year term came to an end in November 2011. It was clear from the Constitution that the President would appoint the new commissioners in consultation with the Prime Minister.

Since I was scheduled to travel to Mombasa for a couple of days, I finalised booking for the flight and travelled on the morning the commission meeting was to happen. The IIEC only had a de facto vice chair at the time, so in my absence and that of a vice, no meeting could be convened.

I knew that the blazing tempers against Oswago among the commissioners would have subsided by the following week. Gladys was deeply disappointed by this decision. She told me that I had lost a golden opportunity to sack Oswago while the iron was still hot. She had also hoped to take up the CEO position.

Eventually, we confiscated Oswago’s official laptop and sent him on administrative leave for two weeks as we conducted a forensic audit. We gave the laptop to our staff, who did the same audit as they had on Allan’s machine. It was not a surprise when they retrieved the exact documents and details found in Allan’s laptop, though he had also deleted them.

 It was a terribly disconcerting discovery of all the malicious articles against us that we had been reading in the newspapers. The agenda was to paint me and the commission in negative light. This further deepened the wedge in our interactions, as we could no longer trust Oswago. He had perfected the art of gaslighting. He persisted in denying any claim that had been raised against him.

We decided to hand over Oswago’s laptop to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) whose director at the time was Patrick Lumumba, for a second forensic audit. KACC would be disbanded in September of the same year, 2011, and replaced by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). In his written response, Lumumba stated that KACC had found nothing incriminating in the laptop, which was rather unfortunate. We realised that we would make very little headway on the matter, given the response, and agreed to deal with it after being confirmed as commissioners of the IEBC.

We were all hopeful then that the Constitution would be adhered to, which meant there was a high likelihood that the commissioners would retain their jobs. The Constitution gave the IEBC commissioners the prerogative of retaining or discarding the secretariat upon being appointed. Oswago seemed aware that his time at the commission was limited, and knew the incoming commissioners would determine his fate. Interestingly, the leaked dossiers to the media ceased after the culprits were found.