Raila Odinga, leader of Azimio La Umoja, has announced that he will hold public rallies to engage Kenyans in the ongoing Parliamentary investigation of four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners.
Juliana Cherera, Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi, and Justus Nyang’aya are being questioned after a petition was filed questioning their fitness to hold office following their disavowal of the presidential election results on August 9.
Speaking at a Kisumu hotel on Sunday, the former prime minister accused President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration of imposing a “user-friendly” IEBC on Kenyans.
“This regime is trying to send home the commissioners who stood firm on the platform of the truth and this is not acceptable. The people of Kenya are not going to accept it. These people stole the elections and we cannot accept that on top of that, they send away these other commissioners and impose on Kenyans a user-friendly commission to them,” Odinga told supporters.
He announced a plan to tour the country beginning this week to canvass Kenyans’ opinions on the fate of the four commissioners.
The first forum, according to the Azimio chief, will take place on Wednesday at the Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi.
“We are going to consult widely with the people of Kenya, beginning Wednesday in Nairobi. We will have a meeting with the people at Kamukunji Grounds to ask them if they accept that these commissioners should go home,” he said.
“We will then do the same thing in Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Kakamega because an independent electoral commission is the referee and cannot be appointed by a player,” Odinga added.
Last Thursday, the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee began hearing petitions filed against the four commissioners.
The committee is expected to deliberate on the quartet’s fate for four days after hearing the petition.
The petitioners want the commissioners removed from office for violating the constitution as well as gross misconduct and incompetence.
