President William Ruto is on a revenge mission and witch hunt against individuals who did not back his August 9 presidential bid, opposition leaders claimed yesterday.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leaders cited the petitions against the four top officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as an example of the Kenya Kwanza crackdown on institutions and individuals the regime thinks did not dance to its tune during the campaigns.
ODM leader Raila Odinga said IEBC vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera and commissioners Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit and Justus Nyang’aya are being targeted for expressing reservations over the process that led to the declaration of Dr Ruto as President.
Mr Odinga said the outcome of the hearing is pre-determined, with the four expected to appear before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
He said they would be found guilty and made to appear before a tribunal to be set up by the President before being dismissed from the electoral agency.
“The mission of selective injustice is being steamrolled by the speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate and William Ruto,” he told reporters.
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka said the process reeks of impunity and termed it “a persecution of the commissioners with a script already out”.
“I don’t like politically motivated things. The committee should believe in the rule of law but it looks like our brothers want to take Kenyans back to the streets,” Mr Musyoka said.
Narc Kenya chief Martha Karua said the case against the four is a witch hunt designed to punish them for standing up for what is right.
She, instead, asked President Ruto to form a panel to replace IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Abdi Guliye, and Boya Molu, whose terms are coming to an end.
“Time is up. Let’s have a new commission. The witch hunt in Parliament is designed to stop the four from taking over,” Ms Karua said.
She demanded to know why Mr Chebukati, Prof Guliye and Mr Molu have not yet started terminal leave, as required by the law.
Ms Karua accused them of insisting on presiding over the coming by-elections “in order to give us convoluted results as they did on August 9”.
Mr Odinga said President Ruto is taking the country back to a state of affairs last witnessed during the Daniel arap Moi regime in the 1980s.
