- Kenya Kwanza is at an advanced stage of petitioning for removal of four IEBC chiefs who disowned declaration of Ruto's win.
- Azimio has dared their colleagues to bring it on.
Image: FILE
The declaration of vacancies in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission portends a fresh battleground for President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
Both have huge interests in having their interests represented in the electoral agency in 2027.
Even without a formal process to replace the retiring commissioners setting in, the two antagonistic alignments are already at war.
The tension, it is feared, will get ugly when the actual replacement process starts.
President William Ruto on October 21, in a special gazette notice, declared impending vacancies, paving way for the recruitment of three commissioners to replace Chairman Wafula Chebukati, Commissioners Boya Molu and Prof Abdi Guliye whose terms end next year.
The new team will join Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera and Commissioners Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya. They disowned Chebukati's forthcoming declaration of Ruto's victory, calling the final process opaque and saying they were excluded.
Odinga’s lawyer Paul Mwangi has already questioned the action, claiming the declaration is premature and rushed, signalling an impending clash between the two political titans, Ruto and Raila.
“There is nothing in law like an ‘impending’ vacancy; a vacancy must actually exist before any recruitment process is commenced,” Mwangi said.
The three commissioners' terms lapsed on January 17, 2023, having come into the office on January 18, 2017.
The IEBC Act requires the president to appoint a seven-member recruitment panel at least six months before the lapsing of the term of the chairperson or members of the commission to start the process.
National Assembly Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi has also demanded the immediate exit of the Chebukati team saying their continued stay at the helm of the commission is suspect.
“They need to proceed on a three-month terminal leave. What mischief are they still playing at Anniversary Towers? What is it that they want to achieve now that they could not achieve in the last six years?” Wandayi asked.
Azimio principal Kalonzo Musyoka also weighed into the matter over the weekend while in Raila’s Kisumu backyard.
The Wiper boss termed the October 21 Gazette Notice "irregular".
The second part of the Ruto-Raila battle is quietly shaping up at the 13th Parliament and will explode when the Kenya Kwanza team formally brings up the petition to send packing IEBC vice chairperson Juliana Cherera and the other three dissenting commissioners.
The three are Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi and Irine Masit.
The Star has established that Ruto's troops are at an advanced stage to initiate a process to eject the four commissioners who disputed Ruto's victory.
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali, in an interview with the Star last week, said he will be at the forefront in pushing for exit of the four commissioners who, he claimed, almost burnt the country because of their selfish interests.
“I will be the first to fire the bullet and fire them. They had a chance to choose between public interest. They chose personal interest,” Al, an ally of the President, said.
“If this country would have gone up in flames, it would have been because of these four people,” the MP said.
At the Senate, Nyandarua Senator John Methu had already moved a motion to discuss the conduct of the four but was rescheduled at the last minute.
“They almost committed an act of treason. As Senate and Parliament, we must make our voice known,” Methu, who has sponsored a motion to discuss the conduct of the commissioners, said.
Alego Usonga MP Sam Atandi told the Star that Azimio will defeat any petition to send the four home, saying the government should not be vindictive after taking power.
“The Chebukati wing were loyal and they served the interests of William Ruto and Kenya Kwanza. Then there are the other four commissioners who were looking for the truth, they stood for fairness and a credible election,” Atandi said.
“The fact that the wing that was led by Chebukati managed to push their candidate through should not be used to victimise the other commissioners, for us we are going to block all attempts to victimise them.”
“Commissioners have all their rights, they will look for justice wherever they can find it and I am sure Kenyans know that those commissioners are the ones who were looking for free and fair elections.”
Wandayi who leads Azimio in the National Assembly dared Kenya Kwanza to bring on the petition against the four IEBC commissioners.
“We are totally opposed to any attempt to victimise these officers on account of doing the work which they were expected to do. We shall vehemently oppose the petition,” Wandayi said.
In Kisumu over the weekend, Kalonzo too weighed in on the matter demanding that the four be left to complete their terms.
“Nobody should dare touch the four commissioners. They showed in their own way their professionalism and they were not afraid,” he said.
As his troop's fire salvos, the Azimio boss has maintained a studious silence on the matter, choosing not to make public statements on the happenings at the commission.
(Edited by V. Graham)