The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs has begun hearing petitions for the removal of four IEBC Commissioners from office, the exercise will take place through to Tuesday next week.
In a notice, the National Assemblies Departmental committee on Legal Affairs cited Article 251(2) of the constitution, which provides that “a person desiring for the removal of a member of a commission or a holder of an independent office on any grounds specified on (1), may present a petition to the National Assembly stating out the alleged facts constituting that ground.”
Earlier this month, the National Assembly received petitions from four individuals seeking the removal from office of Juliana Cherera , Irene Masit , Justis Nyang’aya and Francis Wanderi as Commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, on grounds of serious violation of the constitution and other laws , gross misconduct and incompetence.
The legal affairs committee now has two weeks to report to the house on whether the petition discloses grounds for removal.
The four rejected the results of the recently concluded presidential election claiming that they were arrived at by the electoral body chairman Wafula Chebukati in an opaque manner.
They also filed affidavits at the Supreme Court in the petition filed by Azimio la Umoja coalition, challenging President William Ruto’s win, distancing themselves from the results of the presidential election.
At the height of the tallying of the presidential votes in the August elections, the four convened a parallel press conference at Serena Hotel and denounced the presidential results that declared William Ruto the winner of the presidential election.
They termed as ‘opaque’, the results that were announced by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati at Bomas of Kenya.
The Republican Party cites the press briefing as an act of misconduct, adding that the commissioners have lost public confidence by failing to adhere to the leadership and integrity law and demeaning their office.
“They failed to adhere to values and principles of good governance and should therefore take personal responsibility over their actions,” the party says in the petition.
If a tribunal is formed, the concerned commissioners will be suspended and paid half-salary, pending the conclusion of the inquiry. The President will have 30 days to act on the report after the tribunal makes its recommendation to him.
