NAIROBI, Kenya May 13 \u2013 Opposition Leaders on Tuesday branded the newly appointed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) team a \u201cState House project\u201d designed to rig the 2027 General Election in favour of President William Ruto.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the leaders accused President Ruto of orchestrating a partisan recruitment process and co-opting former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in what they claim is an elaborate scheme to manipulate the next polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we feared has now come to pass. Ruto has handpicked a commission tailored to secure his re-election. This is not an IEBC for the people, it\u2019s a rigging machine,\u201d read the statement signed by top opposition figures including Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua, Rigathi Gachagua, Eugene Wamalwa, Justin Muturi, Fred Matiang\u2019i, and others.<\/p>\n
They claimed the selection panel was heavily biased and influenced by State House operatives.<\/p>\n
They flagged the nomination of Hassan Noor, allegedly linked to Junet Mohamed, as evidence of political manipulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chairperson nominee, Erastus Edung, is a known Ruto loyalist, while panel member Dr. Adams Oloo also serves as the President\u2019s communications advisor a blatant conflict of interest,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The leaders announced plans to form a parallel electoral body, the People\u2019s IEBC, described as a citizen-led watchdog that will \u201cmirror the official commission\u201d and enforce accountability based on Article 10 of the Constitution, which outlines national values and principles of governance.<\/p>\n
They also demanded the immediate publication of the Selection Panel\u2019s exit report and full Hansard records detailing the recruitment criteria.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the people of Kenya: remain vigilant. Ruto\u2019s desperation to cling to power must and will be stopped,\u201d the opposition warned, calling on citizens to defend the right to free and fair elections.<\/p>\n
The leaders also took direct aim at Raila, accusing him of betraying the opposition\u2019s reform agenda by aligning with President Ruto in what they termed a \u201cbroad-based brotherhood\u201d that seeks to control the 2027 polls through an illegitimate electoral body.<\/p>\n
The IEBC has been in limbo since January 2023 following the resignation of all commissioners after months of political pressure and fallout from the disputed 2022 election.<\/p>\n
The National Assembly has initiated the vetting process for the seven nominees following confirmation by Speaker Moses Wetang\u2019ula on Monday that the House had received the President\u2019s communication.<\/p>\n
The nominees will face scrutiny by the House Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), which will conduct public hearings and assess the suitability of each candidate. <\/p>\n
Members of the public have also been invited to submit written memoranda on the nominees, as provided under the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approvals) Act. <\/p>\n
JLAC\u2019s vetting process will culminate in a report recommending the approval or rejection of the nominees, which will then be debated by the full House.<\/p>\n
If approved by the House, the nominees will be formally appointed and sworn in by the President, completing the IEBC\u2019s reconstitution.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya May 13 \u2013 Opposition Leaders on Tuesday branded the newly appointed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) team a \u201cState House project\u201d designed to rig the 2027 General Election in favour of President William Ruto. In a statement, the leaders accused President Ruto of orchestrating a partisan recruitment process and co-opting former Prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}