Credibility test faces PRSK after botched elections

Management of the Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK) faces credibility questions after a section of members led a successful campaign to call off elections scheduled for January 7.

Leading the challengers, Calvin Nyagudi, claims PRSK’s leadership had manipulated the voter register to allow ineligible people to vote while locking out bona fide members.

Faced by the strong opposition, the PRSK top brass led by President Dr Wilfred Marube called off the elections indefinitely, promising to look into the allegations by Nyagudi’s team.

For a professional body whose mandate is to fire-fight, create and maintain the good image of others, the internal discord in PRSK has prompted the challengers to petition for a Special General Meeting (SGM) to address what they call ‘grave malpractices’ and hopefully salvage the society’s image.

“We have realised that the voter register has been tampered with in order to favour some of the incumbent executives who are hell-bent on rigging the elections. We raised our concerns time without number regarding the illegitimate voter register. We strongly believe that if a thorough audit of the register is not conducted, ineligible people will be given multiple codes to vote as many times as possible in order to tilt the election in favour of the incumbents while bona fide members who have fully paid up their subscription disenfranchised by having their names missing on the voter register,” said Nyagudi in the memo sent out to fellow challengers inviting them to sign-up to the petition to call off the elections. Further questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the financial report that had been circulated ahead of the aborted January 7 annual general meeting in which the elections were scheduled. The financial statements were prepared by Messrs Dennis Paul & Associates and signed off by PRSK President Marube.