By Odhiambo Levin Opiyo (On Facebook)

Wafula Wa Chebukati, who passed on today, was once a staunch member of ODM party and even vied for a parliamentary seat on the party’s ticket before he left the party in 2017.

I could describe him as the proverbial cat with nine lives. Although in public, he appeared timid , behind closed doors, he was a very firm person. This saw him withstand pressure within and outside the commission.

Perhaps his demeanour misled UhuRuto to appoint him as IEBC chairman in 2016, even after he was ranked second with many points behind Tukero ole Kina of Muli & ole Kina Advocates .

The selection panel had ranked Tukero first with 79% and Chebukati a distant second with 63%. However UhuRuto settled on Chebukati maybe because they saw him as amenable.

As IEBC chair, Chebukati survived all efforts to oust him. In 2017, just a year after his appointment, many believed he would resign due to the growing political pressure, but he stayed on.

He was also a true patriot who stood for his country in the face of danger. After his colleague Chege Musando was murdered forcing Commissioner Akombe, many thought Chebukati would follow suit.

It was an electioneering period and the political temperatures were very high. If Chebukati had abandoned the commission at such a critical juncture, the country could have descended in a total political crisis. Chebukati stayed on and guided the commission.

Later, in 2018, the government in a bid to get rid of Chebukati incited some commissioners led by vice chair Connie Nkatha Maina to gang up against him and resign from their positions. The aim was to incapacitate the commission and trigger Chebukati’s ouster. But he stayed on and continued to steer the commission as if nothing had happened. This was just after Chebukati kicked out Ezra Chiloba, who was UhuRuto blue eyed boy in the IEBC, in what he termed as protecting public resources.

Realising that their plan had failed, the embarrassed Commissioners tried to sneak back to their offices, but they found Chebukati had already changed the locks. Not even the government that had incited them to make the move could save them. They were later given a soft landing by being appointed diplomats after their bid to return to the commission failed.

In 2021, there was another plan by some parliamentarians to have him kicked out as IEBC chairman, but nothing came out of it.

Perhaps 2022 was the most tumultuous period for Chebukati as IEBC chair. After the defeat of Raila because of poor mobilisation in his strongholds, there was a concerted effort to have Chebukati alter the results.

High ranking state officials used threats and even tried to instigate a crisis within the commission to have Chebukati isolated, but he stood his ground. He didn’t want to follow Samuel Kivuitu to the pitfalls of doctoring result in favour of the establishment.

A weak chair could have easily surrendered to the threats and pocketed the mouth watering offers that were being used to induce him to alter the results. May he rest in peace.