Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu is now calling for the resignation of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati before the 2022 elections.
According to Wambugu, Chebukati is a supporter of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party heavily linked with Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto who is among the front runners in the 2022 State House race.
“We can’t do the next elections with (Wafula) Chebukati in office. Not after what I saw in Kiambaa (by-election),” Wambugu wrote on his Facebook page.
The legislator said this after the IEBC chair copied members of the international community in his reply to a letter from UDA party Secretary-General Veronica Maina.
Maina had written to the poll agency demanding for exclusion of Cabinet Secretaries and other state officers who are allegedly campaigning for State-backed presidential candidate Raila Odinga from participating in the 2022 elections.
Ngunjiri, who recently accused William Ruto of earning as deputy president but working as a presidential aspirant said Chebukati can support UDA as it is his democratic right but argued that he should not oversee the next General Election.
“It’s his democratic right as a Kenyan. But what is this about him copying official letters to members of the international community? He forgot we got independence?” He posed.
In August 2021, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s allies were plotting to kick out the commission’s chair Wafula Chebukati claiming he was unfit to conduct a free, fair, and transparent election.
However, a month later, Raila Odinga’s party made an about-turn regarding the removal after the ODM leader warned his members against launching an onslaught against IEBC boss and the commission in general.
In a verdict delivered by party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, the opposition party called upon Chebukati and his team to freely execute their duties but per the law.
“We want him to continue to work according to what the law says the work should be done,” Sifuna said.
