NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 1 – The four embattled Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissioners (IEBC) could be kicked out of office after the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) recommended their removal from office through a tribunal.
In the report by the committee chaired by Tharaka Member of Parliament George Murugara, after considering four petitions seeking to ouster Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyagaya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi they were satisfied that they held sufficient grounds for their removal.
While tabling the report, Murugara stated that the four petitions had disclosed enough evidence on serious violation of the constitution, gross misconduct and incompetence paving way for President William Ruto to form a tribunal for their removal.
Republican Party, Rev David Ndumbi, Steve Owour and Geofrey Langat had filed the petitions which were investigated in a four-day hearing which the besieged commissioners gave a wide berth.
“The house resolves petition herein together with the material in support hereof be sent to his Excellency the President pursuant to Article 251 (3) of the constitution. The President appoint a tribunal to deal with the matters in accordance with Article 251 (5) of the constitution,” said Murugara.
JLAC calls for the four commissioners to be suspended pending their investigations which will be conducted by the tribunal.
This comes even as the National Assembly is racing against time to pass IEBC amendment bill of 2022 which guides on how to select new commissioners in the poll body through a selection panel.
The house is set to head for a two month recess today.
On January 18th 2022, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Boya Mulu and Abdi Guliye are expected to leave office following the end of their tenure.
If the House approves the JLAC report, President William Ruto will suspend the four commissioners leaving the commission vacant.
This will create a crisis due to pending by elections and the imminent boundaries delimitation that is set to be conducted by the poll agency.
Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa urged the house to expedite the process of passing the IEBC amendment bill to avert a crisis due to lack of a substantive poll body.
“The country runs a risk of running without a commission and its important we expedite it before we head on recess.It will allow the Senate time to deal with it because it touches on counties,”said Ichungwa.
“With the three commissioners term coming to an end and with the fate of the other 4 in the hands of this assembly, should anything adverse be decided on them , we ran the risk of being without a commission,”he added.
All the four embattled commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Tuesday failed to appear before the National Assembly committee prosecuting their removal from office.
Through their legal counsels, each of the four commissioners were unable to defend themselves before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) seeking an adjournment for adequate preparation as they sought sufficient documentation on allegations against them.
Despite the requests, the committee declined to grant the request saying that their timelines to write the report on the quasi-judicial hearing that commenced on November 24th and that the respondents were engaging in a derailment tactic.
“Considering that in our view it appears to be a trend to delay the matter further by seeking adjournment all the time. We are not inclined to issue anymore adjournment on this matter,” chair of the committee George Murugara stated.
IEBC Vice Chair Juliana Cherera through her legal counsel Apollo Mboya had sought an extension of seven days to appear before the committee.
In a letter submitted through the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mboya decried that he lacked sufficient time to prepare a solid defense due to lack of sufficient documentation which include the Hansard of the proceedings of the committee and copies of the petition.
IEBC commissioner Julius Nyagaya through his counsel Jotham Arwa failed to defend himself due to lack of adequate guidance on how to proceed while prosecuting their defense.
Arwa stated that he had written to the Clerk of National Assembly seeking guidance on whether they will be allowed to bring witnesses before the proceeding and if IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati will be cross examined as the petitioners had relied on his affidavit.
“Guidance is what we need before we can proceed and the guidance has just been given and so it’s not possible to proceed,” he said.
While representing commissioner Francis Wanderi, lawyer Nduru Gichamba, told MPs that he was unable to defend his client due to time constraints seeking additional time from the committee.
Gichamba stated that he lacked sufficient documentation on allegations bedeviled on his client and could therefore not proceed without the required particulars.
“If no time will be granted by this committee owing to its standing orders, then we would be unable to proceed,” he said.
