Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga maintains that four former commissioners of Kenya’s electoral body led by vice chair Juliana Cherera were unfairly targeted by President William Ruto’s administration.
Cherera, commissioners Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi and Irene Masit were suspended in December last year over alleged misconduct, months after disowning results of the presidential election announced by their boss Wafula Chebukati on August 15, 2022.
Cherera, Nyang’aya and Wanderi resigned in the wake of their suspension and the formation of a tribunal constituted by Ruto to investigate allegations of bias in the polls.
In an interview with KTN News on Tuesday night, Raila said the probe against the four commissioners was politically instigated. He insisted that the four are “innocent” as they “stood by the truth”.
The opposition chief further alleged that Court of Appeal Judge Aggrey Muchelule who chaired the tribunal is “wanted in the United States for some crimes”.
Without disclosing details of the alleged offences, Raila said Muchelule was unfit to conduct any probe against the electoral officials.
Raila, who insists that he won the August presidential poll, alleged that he was rigged out in a scheme involving senior officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“What is most annoying is that the criminals themselves are now charging other people. The four commissioners who were standing by the truth and saying what Chebukati is announcing is not genuine results are now the criminals,” Raila said.
“They set up a tribunal chaired by a judge who is wanted in the United States for some crimes and is now coming out saying that Azimio wanted to rig elections. It’s annoying the confidence you guys have to lie to the nation,” he added.
“He (Ruto) is not ready for talks. You see also the other four now condemned commissioners whose terms had not even ended. Those four commissioners must be reinstated with full benefits. We must sit down and talk about the electoral commission as stakeholders,” Raila said while responding to a question about what it would take him to sit down and talk to Ruto amid ongoing anti-government rallies.
The Muchelule-led tribunal on Monday recommended the removal of Masit from office, saying allegations against her were proved.
Masit was the only commissioner who faced the tribunal after her three colleagues resigned. She stood her ground claiming that she was innocent of the allegations pressed against her.
In its report, the tribunal said allegations that Commissioner Masit agreed to a request made by some members of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) to moderate results in last year’s presidential election were proved.
Further, the tribunal stated that the actions by Masit and her colleague to disown the presidential results announced by the IEBC chair, amounted to gross misconduct.
“From the analysis of evidence on record, it is our finding that Commissioner Irene Masit’s actions of 15th August 2022 of agreeing to the proposal by the two delegations to moderate the result of the Presidential Election to enable a re-run with the promise that there would be a reward if this was done amounts to gross misconduct on her part,” the report read in part.
“Secondly, the actions by the Commissioners to proceed to Serena to issue the presser to disown the result that she had participated in tallying and verifying were intended to undermine and erode public trust in the commission and to the result. In our considered view, these actions amounted to gross misconduct.”
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