Africa-Press – Kenya. Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has claimed that President William Ruto is openly biased in the ongoing hearings for the removal of the four IEBC commissioners by the National Assembly.
Omtatah claims Ruto has taken sides in the matter by openly supporting petitions targeting the four while the petition against the other three has not been acted upon.
He says by being openly biased, the President has sealed the fate of the four targeted commissioners given that his Kenya Kwanza coalition holds a majority on the Departmental Committee and the floor of the House.
He claims that there is a petition seeking the removal of chairperson Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu yet they are acting on the petitions of the other four alone.
“It is unacceptable that the President has taken sides and is openly supporting petitions targeting only the four commissioners and not the other three for purely political reasons, yet the Supreme Court pronounced itself that the entire Commission was dysfunctional,” he said
He has even faulted the President for tweeting about the matter where he supported the petitions instead of being neutral.
“The lords of impunity, who destroyed oversight institutions using the handshake fraud, should allow parliament to hold rogue officials who put the nation in danger by subverting the democratic will of the people to be held to account. The new order is rule of law not wishes of big men,” the president tweeted
He said that was not the rule of law but discriminating against and condemning the four commissioners unheard, saying it also violates their right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Clearly, and most, unfortunately, the President, who is supposed to be a neutral arbiter, given the role he plays in the impeachment process by appointing the trial tribunal, has allowed his interests to override his public duties, contrary to express provisions of the Constitution,” the petition reads
The legislator also says that from the foregoing it’s clear that it will not be possible for the President to constitute an independent and impartial tribunal since he has already concluded that the four targeted commissioners are “rogue officials” who Parliament should hold to account.
“In the circumstances, he will appoint a tribunal that will validate his politically driven unfounded condemnation of the four accused commissioners,” Omtatah said.
He says that since the fate of the four commissioners is already predetermined, the petitions are mere formalities to technically accord with procedures to hoodwink the public that the commissioners were accorded a fair hearing.
“Since a river cannot flow higher than its source, a biased/conflicted President cannot appoint an impartial tribunal that will guarantee the targeted four commissioners their constitutionally entrenched rights to the rule of law and to be given a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal,” Omtatah says.
He argues that the petitions at the National Assembly cannot be distanced from the President’s vested interests in the outcome of the proceedings including political interests.
“Hence, to the extent that the four petitions before the National Assembly are simple tools for eliminating individuals or groups of individuals in the context of such a struggle, they contravene or threaten clear provisions of the Constitution and principles of natural justice which underpin Kenya’s constitutional dispensation,” he said.
He wants the court to stop the proceedings before JLAC seeking to remove the four commissioners pending hearing and determination of his case.
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