Karua to Ruto: We’ll kick out anyone you dare appoint to IEBC single-handedly

NARC Kenya party leader Martha Karua said on Sunday that the opposition will chase anyone President William Ruto will appoint to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) without public participation.

Karua, who was Azimio La Umoja coalition’s deputy presidential candidate in the August 2022 General Election, told a rally at the Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi that they will not allow any appointments to the electoral body until Kenyans are involved in the process.

“I want to send a message to Ruto; we shall not allow you to form a Ruto electoral commission. Even if you try to appoint them, we will kick them out. We will toss it out until Kenyans do what the constitution demands of them,” she said.

“This fight is not for Azimio or Raila, it is for every Kenyan against these people who want to reap off our sweat. Kenyans have the power to say enough is enough so let us unite to deliver this country,” Karua told the crowd.

The rally was the latest of a series lined up across the country as the coalition's leader Raila Odinga continues to mobilise supporters to oppose President Ruto’s administration.

The process of recruiting new IEBC Commissioners to take over from former Chairman Wafula Chebukati, and Commissioners Boya Molu and Yakub Guliye whose 6-year tenure lapsed, as well as former Vice Chair Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya who resigned to avoid facing a tribunal probing their conduct in last year’s polls, is ongoing.

Commissioner Irene Masit, on her part, is on suspension waiting for the tribunal to determine her fate.

President Ruto is expected to appoint the selection panel that will recruit new commissioners.

But Odinga, who maintains that the August election was rigged in Ruto’s favour, accuses the president of seeking to appoint political stooges who will manipulate the 2027 polls.

“We will not agree that Mr Ruto and his sycophants single-handedly appoint an electoral commission. Ruto wants to fill IBC with seven Wafula Chebukatis single-handedly without even a word from the people of Kenya who are served by the IEBC,” the former Prime Minister told the crowd on Sunday.

Azimio additionally proposes separate electoral bodies across each county to counter what they describe as tampering with votes at the IEBC national tallying center at the Bomas of Kenya.

“We do not want an electoral commission based in Nairobi alone, every county should have an electoral body, such that when the results are released in the counties, what happens in the national level is just basic addition,” Odinga said.

He added that they are planning to table those suggestions to the incoming IEBC commissioners.

The IEBC Amendment Act 2022, which President Ruto signed last month, outlines how the 7 slots in the Selection Panel will be shared out.

The new law allocates two slots each to the Parliamentary Service Commission and the Inter Religious Council, while the Public Service Commission, the Political Parties Liaison Committee and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) will nominate one member each to the panel.