MPs Moses Kuria, Ferdinand Waititu, Alice Nga’ng’a and Kimani Ichung’wah want the coalition’s leaders barred by the court from intimidating the IEBC commissioners/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 28 – The High Court has certified as urgent a case in which five Jubilee MPs have sued Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders for threatening to again storm the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) headquarter to force the embattled commissioners out of office.
Judge Isaac Lenaola directed the legislators, through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, to serve the application on the three CORD co-principals for an inter-partes hearing on Friday.
The judge also allowed the MPs for Kabete (Ferdinand Waititu), Gatundu South (Moses Kuria), Dagoretti South (Dennis Waweru), Kikuyu (Kimani Ichung’wah) and Thika (Alice Ng’ang’a) to publicise the suit in one of the local dailies.
In the suit, the Attorney-General, Raila Odinga, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula and their respective parties: ODM, Wiper, and Ford-Kenya, have been named as respondents.
The Jubilee politicians want the Opposition leaders, their supporters and agents restrained from storming the IEBC offices and intimidating them, in any way, pending hearing and determination of the suit.
On Tuesday, CORD said it intends to storm the offices of the electoral commission every successive Monday from May 2 should the IEBC Commissioners remain in office.
A threat the petitioners say is in violation of the Constitution to the extent that it seeks to force the IEBC commissioners to leave office prematurely; before their term in office expires.
“The call for the removal of the current IEBC commissioners by the opposition leaders through picketing and demonstrations outside the IEBC is plainly unconstitutional. The acts are completely untenable in the country which is governed by the Supreme Law,” the petition reads.
The Central MPs have also submitted that the protests are an infringement on the Kenyan populace’s right to free and fair elections as the IEBC Commissioners, with the election a year away, cannot be expected to effectively execute their mandates under hostile conditions.
“The IEBC cannot execute its stated Constitutional and statutory mandate effectively with the intimidation now being meted against it,” the suit papers read.
It is their argument that CORD is unequivocally bound by Article 91 of the Constitution not to engage in acts of sabotage of the Constitution.
“The acts of the respondents deprive the petitioners, the IEBC itself and Kenyans of the benefit of the process set out in Article 251 of the constitution (on removal of Commissioners), without just cause.”
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