NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 29 – The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition has rescheduled its public consultations on the National Assembly sittings seeking to probe the conduct of four commissioners at the Independent Electoral ad Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to December 7.
According to the Raila Odinga-led coalition, this is due to the ongoing national examinations currently underway across the country.
“Azimio La Umoja reschedules their protests from tomorrow to 7th dec due to the ongoing national exams,” a short statement from the coalition stated.
Odinga had earlier stated that the consultations will be seeking to engage the public on the planned reforms at the IEBC.
Odinga said Sunday in Kisumu, that they will fiercely oppose the ongoing petition before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) of the National Assembly on the removal of four dissenting IEBC commissioners.
He added that the President William Ruto administration is keen to kick out Deputy Chairperson Juliana Cherera and commissioners Francis Mathenge, Irene Masit, and Justus Nyang’aya who “stood firm on the platform of the truth.”
“This is not going to be accepted. The people of Kenya will not accept it because it is now known worldwide that these people lost the elections badly and that they stole these elections. We cannot accept that on top of that they will add insult to injury by sending away these commissioners and then imposing on Kenyans a user-friendly Commission to them,” Odinga said.
The opposition chief said that the first public consultation forum will take place in Nairobi’s Kamukunji grounds before proceeding to other areas including Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Kakamega.
He pointed out that the main goal of the planned consultation exercise will be to gather the views of Kenyans on whether they support the removal of the “Cherera Four.”
“An Independent electoral commission is the referee. It cannot be appointed by a player. So, we will not allow the Kenya Kwisha (Kwanza) regime to impose the commission on the people of Kenya. That is not acceptable,” Odinga said.
Odinga’s latest comments come three days after he told Journalists in Nairobi that the ongoing probe by JLAC is a revenge mission by the current regime against the four commissioners for expressing reservations over the process that led to the declaration of William Ruto as Kenya’s 5th President.
He claimed that the petition is being steamrolled by the Speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate and President Ruto.