Duale: 4 dissenting commissioners should be ejected from IEBC

The four who comprise IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang’aya and Irene Masit disowned the results released by their boss, Chairperson Wafula Chebukati, on August 15, citing “opaqueness” in the verification process.  

After the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the results and stated that William Ruto was, indeed, rightfully declared president-elect by Mr. Chebukati, the four came out to say they accept and respect the court’s decision to dismiss the petition challenging the results.

“After the Supreme Court of Kenya made her [sic] ruling yesterday on the Presidential election petition particularly with regard to our role as commissioners, we wish to convey our appreciation to the Honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of Kenya and confirm that we respect their collective decisions,” they said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

But in an impassionate Twitter thread late in the evening, Duale who is a member of Dr. Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party termed the four’s statement as “abuse to the Kenyan people”.

“The four commissioners purported all of a sudden to support the statement by the IEBC Chairperson that the 9th August elections were free and fair. They further stated that they would respect the decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the presidential election results!” said Duale.

He further described them as proxies of unnamed “masters” who decided to disown the electoral process after realising “they had failed”.

“These are the same Commissioners who took Kenyans for a ride as they appeared in media conferences with the 0.01% embarrassing circus in what they called "mathematical absurdity",” he added.

According to him, Cherera and her colleagues nearly tossed the country into a crisis. 

“They went ahead and filed pleadings and tons of paragraphs in fabricated affidavits alleging and lying how ‘the results were unverified and never approved’ and hence they begged, prayed and forever prayed that the Supreme Court would nullify the elections,” said Duale.

The outspoken legislator says they acted in “pure blatant gross violation of the constitution and the law for attempting to subvert the will of people through fabrications.”

He wants them held accountable “both individually and collectively”, and be thrown out of office on grounds of gross misconduct and violation of the constitution.

“The four commissioners should be held accountable both individually and collectively! They cannot turn on and off like a switch and expect us to just forget everything. They must face the music,” says Duale.

He adds: “Article 251 of the Constitution provides for the removal of commissioners on grounds of gross violation of the Constitution, and the law and gross misconduct can only be the only solution! This is the music they must face!”

“For now, they need to know sisi Wakenya hatubebangwi hivyo!”

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the four did not provide any evidence of results tampering.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said the bench had taken cognizance that the four commissioners actively participated in the tallying and verification exercise from the beginning until just before the declaration of the results by the Chairperson.

“We note that aside from their 11th-hour walkout, the four commissioners have not placed before this court any document to show the result of the election was altered,” the Supreme Court President said.