Double blow for CORD as push to remove IEBC team fails

But what made them think they had the slightest chance?

By Wilfred Ayaga

Wednesday, July 30th 2014 

The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) Wednesday suffered a double blow after the House rejected attempts by its members to present a minority report alongside one that had dismissed a petition calling for the removal of nine Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission (IEBC) commissioners.

The Jubilee-dominated House went ahead to debate and vote on the main report, with Speaker Justin Muturi ruling that the dissenting views of the members had been well captured in the report tabled by the House Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

The ruling by the Speaker opened the way for a heated debate on the main report, with CORD MPs standing their ground that the committee, chaired by Samuel Chepkonga, had erred in dismissing the petition by Wafula Buke.

The petition had called for the removal of nine commissioner of the electoral body, among them Chairman Isaak Hassan.

Nine grounds

Buke had presented nine grounds for the removal of the commissioners, chief among them being that they had demonstrated incurable incompetence in their conduct during the 2013 General Election.

Buke relied on materials that were presented before the Supreme Court and argued that their content provided enough grounds for the removal of the commissioners.

In their defence, the commissioners dismissed the petition and told the committee that the allegations against them were vague and had failed to pinpoint specific acts that would warrant their removal from office.

Chepkonga said the committee provided Buke with enough opportunity to present his case.

CORD MPs, who registered their dissent on the report included Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay), David Ochieng’ (Ugenya), Christine Ombaka (Siaya) and Agostino Neto (Ndhiwa).

In their dissenting opinion, the CORD MPs claimed the commission’s report presented to the National Assembly on July 18 contained results which were either omitted or falsified.

Majority Leader Adan Duale supported the committee report and faulted the opposition in its call for a referendum to disband the IEBC.