Moses Kuria loses first fight with IEBC over poll-rigging claims

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria. [File, Standard]

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria has lost the application seeking to bar the IEBC from determining whether the poll-rigging remarks he made at the UDA national delegates conference on March 15 breach the electoral conduct.

Kuria allegedly said he and other Jubilee-inclined MPs “helped President Uhuru Kenyatta steal the vote” in the 2017 polls.

In his subsequent defence, he said his words were misinterpreted, saying he meant imba (sing), and not iba kura (steal the vote).

On Saturday, March 26, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) summoned the lawmaker over remarks that he and team allegedly helped President Kenyatta rig 2017 polls.

Appearing before the agency on Wednesday, March 30, Kuria filed an objection to have the matter handled by IEBC, arguing the High Court had ruled that the electoral board lacks the power to determine whether a person has breached the electoral conduct.

In his words, Kuria, through his lawyer, said the IEBC cannot be the complainant, prosecutor and judge in the same matter.

The IEBC, however, dismissed Kuria’s objection, saying the matter will proceed to full hearing, and a verdict delivered thereafter.

The legislator had earlier alleged that the IEBC had not served him with documents indicating his offence(s).

The electoral agency, however, said it served the MP through his CDF manager.

Kuria says the communication was not relayed to him, and he, therefore, needs more time to prepare his defense.

The chairperson of the IEBC, Wafula Chebukati, directed that the Gatundu South MP appears before the Commission’s Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee on April 7 for the hearing to begin.