The dramatic and tainted legal profession of former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) deputy President Robert Asembo came to the fore when he was interviewed for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair position. 

During the interviews, the IEBC selection panel unearthed five cases filed against Asembo before the Law Society of Kenya’s Disciplinary Tribunal Committee (DTC) where only two had been resolved. 

However, despite the weight of some of the cases, including withholding Sh1.85 million owed to a client, Asembo told the panel that he was unaware of such matters filed at the DTC. 

Asembo, who also served as the Secretary General of AFC Leopards, denied that during his tenure at FKF, he was involved in the misappropriation of funds clarifying that it was a misconception. 

“We never faced any accusations of misuse of funds. The funds we received are always accountable. If they are FIFA funds at FKF we account for them per FIFA standards and they send international auditors. FIFA would actually take sanctions against an official who misappropriates such funding from FIFA including being banned from football-related activities,” he said. 

The candidate acknowledged that he has a criminal case that is currently underway in court under section 313 of the penal code. 

He was put to task to explain an incident where he was caught up in a fight in the court corridors which he insisted was an act of self-defence where he was the victim and not the assailant. 

“Before that (fight) I had obtained court orders to have the defendant jailed for failing to support his children. I think he was bitter so he took that opportunity to first of all attack the wife. I came in just to prevent that to stop him and then he turned on me and attacked me so it was a human reaction of perhaps self-defence and we reported the matter with the judiciary police,” he said. 

Dishonoured cheques 

Asembo linked yet another case in which he was accused of forging court documents in the case of a minor to the case involving the custody of children and blamed the man they had fought with over the matter. 

“That must have been the same man who was attacking me in the court precincts. As advocates, we don’t produce documents we are given by our clients. I’ve not heard of a forgery complaint anywhere else. So these are the kind of memoranda that are malicious and fictitious,” he added. 

The troubled candidate was also questioned over rental arrears of a house he rented in Ngara which he affirmed, adding that he rented the house for his brother who is a recovering drug addict. 

“I’m not the occupant but I leased for my younger brother whom I’m rehabilitating over some drug abuse so I have a lease agreement with the owners,” he said. 

Asembo said that if appointed to head the electoral body, he would prioritise pushing for the timely release of funds from the National Treasury to avoid the last-minute rush to undertake elections-related exercises. 

He also said that he would push for election law reform so that the Referendum Act and other referendum-related regulations can be created. 

“I would like us to prioritize the cleaning up of the voter register and registration of voters. I would like to see the determination of the long outstanding component of boundaries delimitation matters,” he added 

As the search for IEBC chairperson came to a close yesterday, the ghost of a failed business deal haunted Lilian Wanjiku Manegene who was among the last three candidates who were interviewed yesterday. 

Manegene was hard-pressed to inform the selection panel how she issued a dishonoured cheque to a business partner as security for the capital he had injected in the deal. 

The candidate stated that after starting the business with the partner, it did not pick up as she had expected and disagreement between the two arose. 

“We were not able to make a lot of money from it so the person demanded that he needed their capital back, The cheque was supposed to give him the comfort that we will be able to do this business and be able to get our money back,” Manegene said. 

Manegene explained that the business deal was based on a gentleman’s agreement adding that the cheque she had given her partner did not have a date, neither was there enough money in the bank account to match the claims from the partner who deposited it without informing her. 

“…without my knowledge that cheque was deposited and definitely it was dishonoured because there was no money in the account. It didn’t have a date, only the amount. We still didn’t agree on the system of refunding because if we are getting into a business we all know the risks that are involved. The matter was referred to the justice system it was ordered that I should refund that money which I have done accordingly,” she clarified 

Stakeholder engagement forums 

The 45-year-old lawyer revealed that she was contracted as a legal consultant in the health sector and was instrumental in the creation of the four bills that are regulating the rollout the universal health coverage (UHC). 

“I have had experience as a consultant in the development of the UHC bills – the Social Health Insurance Act, the Digital Health Act, the Primary Health Act and the Facility Financing Improvement Act and their regulations,” she said 

In the process of creating of the bills, he stated that she was chairing the public and stakeholder engagement forums before the drafts were presented to Parliament for further consideration and passing. 

Manegene proposed that IEBC should come up with a law that guides their conduct at the time of presidential result announcement if the public was to have trust in the outcome that is being released. “Commissioners run away from Kenyans in their time of need and that is likely to be the case even in the next general election. I would ensure that there are legal provisions or the law is amended to ensure that there are very stringent penalties for any commissioner who has gone through an interview process, is appointed and then decides to take the salary up to 2026 but just before the results are read they run away,” Manegene said.