Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula defends self over voter bribery

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) committee tasked with deciding Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula's political fate will make its ruling on January 20.

The senator is faced with accusations of bribing voters during the 2013 elections, which he won but was later nullified, prompting a by-election last year. He won the latter by a landslide.

The IEBC's verdict has both legal and political consequences given that Mr Wetang'ula is the Ford-Kenya leader and a co-principal in CORD alongside Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka. He is also the voice of CORD in the Senate as the minority leader.

If the committee decides his name be removed from the voters' roll, it means he will not take part in the 2017 elections despite being a key principal in CORD.

The date was set yesterday when the senator appeared before the three-man IEBC committee as he sought to show cause why the electoral body should not expunge his name from the voters' register.

The committee was led by commissioner Thomas Letangule. Others were Lilian Mahiri-Zaja and Mohamed Alawi.

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Hundreds of his supporters gathered at the Milimani Law Courts to express their solidarity during the public hearing. Armed police officers had been deployed inside and outside the courtroom to maintain order.

Raila Odinga led other Opposition leaders; senators Amos Wako, Anyang Nyong'o, Johnstone Muthama, Boni Khalwale, Mongare Okong'o, Elizabeth Ongoro, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, MPs Millie Odhiambo, Wafula Wamunyinyi, James Nyikal, Eseli Simiyu, Tim Wanyonyi, and Junet Mohamed, and supporters who were chanting slogans in support of the senator.

Wetang'ula's legal team comprised lawyers James Orengo, Paul Mwangi, Dan Maanzo, Edwin Sifuna, Anthony Oluoch, Norman Magaya, Tom Kajwang, Julie Soweto and Kioko Kilukumi.

The lawyers told the committee that for Wetang'ula to be deregistered as a voter, he must have been convicted of the offence he is alleged to have committed.

"We submit that an electoral court cannot carry out a role to prosecute an alleged criminal offence. Since there is no conviction and no criminal process that is ongoing, then it is appropriate that the committee dispenses the matter once and for all," Mr Orengo submitted.

The  committee was scrutinising the High Court's ruling, made in Bungoma, that found Wetang'ula guilty of the election fraud, as well as the Court of Appeal's and the Supreme Court's decisions that affirmed the lower court's verdict.

The Director of Public Prosecutions was the only other party invited to the session, apart from Wetang'ula's lawyers.

However, in a letter tabled before the committee, DPP Keriako Tobiko had sought not to be enjoined in yesterday's proceedings on grounds that his office is independent from IEBC's mandate.

Orengo told the IEBC team that Wetang'ula was likely to suffer double jeopardy in the event both the IEBC and DPP conduct parallel criminal proceedings against the senator over the alleged electoral offence.