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The newly appointed Consul-General for Los Angeles Ezra Chiloba can be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives after being removed from various offices only to resurface in other plum positions.

Though recommendations have been made on two occasions for him to be charged with abuse of abuse, Chiloba has never seen the inside of a court room and instead, his star has continued to shine brighter.

Chiloba, who replaces Thomas Kwaka in the high-profile position, has been rocked by controversy ever since the days he was the CEO at  the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

In June 2018, he was unceremoniously expelled from office but reclaimed the position through courts. He was later fired from the electoral body in October 2018.

He found himself on the receiving end after the 2017 presidential election results were annulled.

Chiloba had also been suspended by the then IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati over procurement issues at the commission.

Chebukati had accused Chiloba for the irregularities that informed the nullification of the presidential election results by the Supreme Court.

In an internal memo, Chebukati had also demanded to know why Chiloba undermined his authority by countermanding his public statement that staff members, whose failures – deliberate or otherwise – led to the nullification, would be held to account.

“You issued a memo to the Commission staff dated September 1. In the said memo you appear to contradict the position adopted by the Commission and communicated by the Chairperson on September 1. The memo fails to appreciate the grave indictment by the Supreme Court with regard to the manner in which the Commission conducted the impugned presidential elections.”

In the 12-point memo, Chebukati queried why some of Forms 34B did not have security features and were not standardised despite them being part of the Al Ghurair printing contract.

He also sought to know why satellite phones procured for the election at an exorbitant cost of close to Sh1 billion failed to work and why the KIEMS kits geo-fencing features were turned off.

“The Commission spent about Sh848 million to purchase satellite phones. Areas with no network were specifically supplied with these devices, however none of these ever worked,” Chebukati stated.

IEBC called for investigations and prosecution of Chiloba. The matter later went silent.

Just when the public thought his goose was cooked, Chiloba was a year later appointed a member of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund board for three years.

The position saw Chiloba, who is an Advocate of the High Court, serve uninterrupted until 2021 when he landed another high-profile government job.

To the surprise of many, Chiloba was appointed Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which controls the ICT industry.

The then authority’s board chairperson Kembi Gitura told journalists that Chiloba’s appointment, which was to take effect immediately, followed a competitive recruitment process.

“The appointment follows a competitive recruitment process to fill the position left vacant with the retirement of the former Director General, Francis Wangusi,” Gitura said in a statement.

But on September 18, 2023, Chiloba’s name was back in the headlines, when the board chairperson Mary Wambui, who had been appointed by President William  Ruto,  relieved him  of his duties in a short memo over alleged abuse of the authority’s mortgage scheme.

A report of a ninth special Board Audit and Risk Assurance Committee meeting held on August 8, 2023, had indicated that Chiloba with nine others “fundamentally breached their obligations arising under the contract of service”.

Chiloba was accused of applying for, and self-approving, a mortgage loan without exercising due process.

The loan was to reportedly facilitate the purchase of a property between Chiloba and another person.

He is also said to have purchased a house and acquired land of seven acres beyond the allowed one acre limit under the Civil Servants Housing Scheme requirement.

On matters regarding the loan application process, the authority says no due diligence was exercised leading to the omitting of relevant information.

“The loan application was approved by a junior staff member and there is no evidence to support that fact that the junior staff member carried out requisite due diligence and advice management including but not limited to the relationship between the seller and the buyer and the size of the property,” read the report.

Questions were raised after it was noted that the authority remitted money to a bank account held by Chiloba under the company name Kitale Hilmost Ltd who also posed as the buyer.

“Further interrogation to confirm the identity of the seller vide a query through the Companies Registry revealed the sole director and shareholder of Kitale Hilmost Ltd as Ezra Chiloba Simiyu, who is also the buyer. These actions amount to an offence in accordance with Section 41 and 42 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act,” it read.

Abuse of office

The task also recommended for prosecution of all persons involved in the alleged scandal. But Chiloba issued a terse statement denying all the accusations.

He  only posted on his X (formerly twitter) handle : “These are just allegations. I’ll wait for a due justice process.’’

Days later, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said it was investigating allegations of abuse of office and conflict of interest against Chiloba during the financial years 2021/2022 to 2023/2024.

Like the IEBC issue, the CA matter also ended quietly.

The appointment of Chiloba,  who holds an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Nairobi, a Master of Arts degree from Central European University in Hungary and a Master of Science degree in Programmes Management from University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, to CA  sparked debate given the role he was to play and having landed the job just before the 2022 election.

Chiloba was, before his exit from CA, also battling accusations of clearing a staff who had  left the authority despite having loans totalling Sh28.9 million and understating loan balances for former employees.

Months later, the man is back as ambassador. He is among 23 people that President Ruto has nominated to be Kenya’s ambassadors, High Commissioners and permanent representatives.