- Sifuna said taking a contrary opinion on a process cannot constitute a gross misconduct.
- He also took a swipe at the Kenya Kwanza allied MPs for executing a vendetta against the commissioners.
The four ‘rebel’ IEBC commissioners cannot be removed from office merely because they disagreed with their chairperson Wafula Chebukati, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has said.
Sifuna said the threshold set out in Article 251 of the Constitution is so high such that it is not only through misconduct but gross misconduct of the law.
“The grounds for removal of the commissioners has been set high. When we talk about gross misconduct there have been various decisions in the past on what constitutes it,” he said.
Speaking during an interview, Sifuna said, “I just do not think people taking a contrary opinion on a process is going to be a gross misconduct. In fact the Supreme Court did not lay any blame on the commissioners.”
He also defended the commissioners- Juliana Cherera (vice chairperson), Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyangaya saying “Even when you are working together you are not bound to agree on everything.”
Sifuna also took a swipe at the Kenya Kwanza allied MPs for executing a vendetta against the commissioners because of their numbers.
He said he does not foresee any objectivity in the parliamentary committee handling the matter owing to the recent and past comments from the side.
The commissioners denounced the results that gave President William Ruto victory in the August 9 poll against Azimio’s Raila Odinga, exposing the deep rift at the agency.
Parliament has already received four petitions by the Republican Party, Dennis Nthumbi, Geoffrey Lagat and Owuor Steve Jerry to have the four kicked out.
Speaker Moses Wetangula committed the petitions to the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, officially starting the process of their removal.
The committee will today (Thursday) start receiving views from the petitioners, the commissioners and the public.
This happens a day after Masit filed a preliminary objection seeking to stop the committee from hearing the the four petitions.