NAIROBI, Kenya May 12 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has gazetted former Samburu Senator Sammy Leshore to replace Isaac Mwaura who lost his Senate seat after fall out with Jubilee Party that has sponsored him.
Mwaura was formally notified of that he was nolonger a nominated Senator through a Gazette notice signed by Speaker Kenneth Lusaka on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati issued a gazette notice disqualifying Mwaura, and replacing him with Leshore.
Mwaura was in the Senate representing persons with disabilities.
The IEBC Act, allows the electoral body to pick a replacement from the list from each political party which participated in the 2017 general election had submitted for the nomination of members to the National Assembly, the Senate and the County Assemblies using proportional representation.
The formula for allocation of seats to the respective political parties from the Party Lists shall be the number of seats won by a political party divided by the total number of seats multiplied by available seats for allocation in the respective House.
Mwaura’s woes began when the Jubilee Party resolved to expel him on grounds of disloyalty and pledging allegiance to Deputy President William Ruto and his UDA party.
His efforts to appeal the decision before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal was dealt a blow after it found that the Jubilee Party had exhausted all the Internal Dispute Resolution Mechanisms.
But when he appeared before the committee in February, Mwaura defended himself saying he remained loyal to the party and that he had never opposed any party position describing the disciplinary process as a political witch hunt.
The vocal senator accused top party officials, including Vice Chairman David Murathe of orchestrating his removal from the party.
“I want to categorically state here that the real witch hunt is because I declared my support for the Jubilee Party Deputy Leader William Ruto. So any assumptions that I have moved out of the Jubilee is just but a figment of their imaginations.”
Mwaura added, “I am loyal to the party, I am loyal to President Uhuru Kenyatta who is on record saying he will rule for 10 years and support the Deputy President William Ruto who would then be the President for another 10 years and that is all I have been saying we fulfill as Jubilee members.”
Mwaura was seen accompanying Ruto to political rallies and publicly opposed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill championed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Leader Raila Odinga.
On December 31, last year, Mwaura joined the DP and other allies in Msambweni; to celebrate Feisal Bader who won the by-election trouncing ODM’s candidate Omar Boga.
