BY SAM ALFAN.
Former IEBC commissioners have accused Chairman Wafula Chebukati of being fed and acting from grapevine.
Consolata Nkatha Maina, Margaret Mwachanya and Dr Paul Kurgat held that the chairman also ordered the withdrawal of their security, demanded the return of all the commission’s assets and immediate stop of their pays.
Replying to a case filed by activist Okiya Omtata seeking to have the court compel them to resign formally, the three claim that chairman Chebukati acted in haste and even wrote to treasury asking that their salaries be stopped and benefits be withdrawn.
They also dismissed allegations by Chebukati that they have not tendered their resignation letters saying that that they formally tendered their resignation letters to the President dated April 16 2018 as required and stipulated in the constitution.
They argue that they resigned from the commission as commissioners but their resignation is yet to be officially communicated and no vacancy has been declared. They say that the resignation of an I.E.B.C commissioner is regulated by the constitution and the I.E.B.C act which lays out the procedure of resignation of a commissioner’s and that the same cannot be inferred from the grapevine.
“It is a legal process with milestone that gives effect to the resignation. The last of that milestone is a notice in the Kenya Gazette,”they argue.
While asking the court to dismiss the case filed against them in court, the three argue that there’s no suggestion that the requirement for a Gazette Notice as the last step in acknowledging their resignation is itself unconstitutional.
