IEBC team removal sittings start at National Assembly

IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan. [PHOTO: STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: The process initiated for the removal from office of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) starts Tuesday when a Parliamentary committee starts considering the merits of the petition.

The parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee will Tuesday host the petitioner, activist Wafula Buke, who has initiated the constitutional process to have the electoral body's nine commissioners sent home.

The activist will appear before the committee chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga to defend his petition, before the legislators listen to other members of public who wish to make submissions on the matter.

The committee will also listen to presentations by IEBC commissioners, led by Chairman Issack Hassan. IEBC has already filed its submission with the committee to counter Buke's petition.

Representatives from the civil society and the public who filed their memorandum with the committee are also expected to appear.

A member of the committee Monday told The Standard that they had already finalised drawing the list of people the committee wants to appear before them for the public hearing.

In his petition filed on April 29, Buke is seeking the removal of the commissioners on grounds of gross violation of the Constitution.

He also alleges that the nine commissioners were incompetent in the management of the March 4 2013 presidential elections and wants them removed in accordance with Article 251 (a) and (b) of the Constitution.

"I pray that this House recommends to the President to form a tribunal for their removal," the petition reads in part.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi had, upon receipt of the petition, committed the same to the committee and directed it to file its report within 30 days.

"The committee has an additional 30 days over and above the 14 days allocated to them and, indeed, as the chairman has ably stated, strive to get as many Kenyans as possible to give their views. It is not possible to hear every Kenyan, of course, but to get a sufficiently representative sample to justify public participation," Muturi said.

Buke's petition is also supported by the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD). But despite CORD's calls for disbandment of the IEBC, the commissioners have maintained that they will not quit until their term ends in November 2017.