BY SAM ALFAN.
Suspended electoral body commissioner Irene Masit has moved to court to challenge her removal.
Masit is among four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission officials who were suspended by President William Ruto pending a probe into their conduct following August 9 presidential election fiasco.
Parliament’s departmental committee on justice and legal affairs recommended that she and four other commissioners be probed.
Two commissioners- vice chairperson Juliana Cherera and Justus Nyang’aya have already resigned leaving Masit and Francis Wanderi to face the tribunal chaired by Court of Appeal judge Aggrey Muchelule.
Through lawyer Donald Kipkorir, Masit wants the court to reinstate her and also block any plans for her replacement at the IEBC.
She further wants all her privileges that have been withdrawn reinstated.
“At the inter-partes hearing, the contractual rights of the petitioner existing ante December 2nd 2022 as IEBC commissioner be reinstated,” seeks Masit.
In the urgent application, Masit wants Justice Muchelule’s tribunal stopped from commencing the probe.
Masit also wants the court to temporarily suspend the effect of gazette notice dated December 2, 2022 suspending she and her fellow commissioners pending investigations by a tribunal named to probe their conduct.
In her court documents, the suspended commissioner wants the court to quash the report by DCJLA to parliament to remove her as commissioner.
The petitioner claims that the four petitions by the republican liberty party, Rev. Denis N. Nthumbi, Geoffery Langat and Awuor Steve Gerry filed before the parliamentary committee have no constitutional, statutory and legal substratum.
She argues that the National Assembly, DCJLA, Gitonga Muragara and the Muchelule tribunal acted with bias and without impartiality. She adds that the proceedings were in open contempt of the constitution and the cited statues and law.
She claims that the impugned proceedings violated suprem court dececion in presidential petition and the respondent exercised its referral or repository judicial power, in bad faith, bias and in a process tainted with bias and improper purpose.
In her affidavit, Masit claims that on December 1 as the DCJLA wa presenting its report to parliament, the IEBC gave them a memo that they were to start a review of 2022 general elections in December 4. On December 2nd, the said gazette notice was issued establishing a teibunal for her removal as IEBC commissioner.
On the gazette notice and the IEBC internal memo were concurrent in not perchance but deliberately calculated to lock her out of participating in the IEBC commission reviews of 2022 general elections.
Justice Mugure Thande directed lawyer Donald Kipkorir to serve parties mentioned as respondents.
