IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has told off Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot over his demand that the commission revokes the nomination of presidential candidates already cleared to contest.
In a statement on Thursday, Chebukati termed Aukot's sentiments as misinformed, irresponsible, unreasonable and ignorant.
"As you may be aware, it is trite that every law is presumed to be constitutional until declared otherwise by a court of law. Our decision can only be reversed by a court order. None has been served upon us," Chebukati said.
Aukot had on Wednesday written to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission calling for the revocation of the clearance of the four presidential candidates.
He argued that their clearance was unconstitutional since the High Court had quashed Elections regulation 18 (2) (C) that required Independent candidates to submit copies of the national identity cards of their supporters.
In his opinion, Aukot held that since all Independent candidates were locked out of the race on the strength of that regulation which now stands nullified, the candidature of the cleared candidates is illegal.
The commission cleared Raila Odinga of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party, George Wajackoyah of Roots Party, William Ruto of UDA and David Waihiga of Agano Party to contest at the August polls after they met all statutory requirements.
"The court has confirmed that your decision was unlawful and most importantly unconstitutional and went against the constitutional threshold in Article 137 (1)(d)," Aukot said.
"With the foregoing, it is self-explanatory that you must not gazette the four candidates nor print presidential ballot papers. Mr Chairman, you do not need a pronouncement of the courts to make the right decision this time, you just need to enforce the judgment" he added.
But Chebukati was categorical in his response, terming Aukot's reasoning as regrettable and aimed at achieving unconstitutional and illegal ends.
He said IEBC cleared the four presidential candidates when the impugned Election regulation was a mandatory legal requirement for clearance of candidates.
"The commission's actions were guided by the mandatory provisions of the law prevailing at that particular point in time. Consequently, the decisions of the commission at that point in time cannot be, by any stretch of imagination, be termed as unconstitutional," Chebukati said.
He said the commission is open to stakeholder input on the electoral processes but their suggestions must be strictly in tandem with the Constitution.
"As a commission, we are only answerable to the Constitution and the law as dictated by Article 249 (2) of the Constitution thus any suggestions must be within the confines of the law," Chebukati said.
"In furtherance of the above, as long as the commission's actions are guided by the Constitution and the law, we shall neither cower nor be intimidated by any person who is hellbent on derailing our constitutional mandate," he added.
