The ANC Party has strongly come out to defend IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati saying, the 60-year-old lawyer should not vacate his position at the electoral body. Speaking in Kakamega on Tuesday, Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala said the ODM Party had hijacked the panel responsible for recruiting new IEBC Commissioners.
”The panel tasked with coming up with a list of new IEBC commissioners should represent all political parties. if you look at the panelists, they only represent a section of the country’s political parties. We would like to tell ODM, we will not allow you to eject Chebukati as the Chair of IEBC,” Malala said.
Even though the Mudavadi led ANC has previously called for the removal of Chebukati from office, the party now says it is defending the IEBC chair because he is a Luhya. Senator Malala, a former Minority Leader in the Senate warned plotters of the scheme it will boomerang on them in 2022.
Senators Beth Mugo, James Orengo and MP Abdikadir Mohammed are said to be part of the IEBC selection panel.
According to the IEBC (Amendment) Bill, 2019, institutions with slots at the selection panel are required to submit names to the Parliamentary Service Commission within seven days of declaration of vacancies. The LSK and religious institutions have been asked to each submit a name to the panel.
