Resign now, Ekuru Aukot tells Chebukati
Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot is now calling for the resignation of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati for illegal clearance of the presidential candidates.
The party leader’s call comes after Justice Anthony Mrima of the High court declared the Elections (General) Regulation 18c of 2017 unconstitutional. Justice Mrima’s judgment on Tuesday afternoon means the clearance of the four presidential candidates is unconstitutional and the matter is now set to be determined by the Judicial Review Court.
Following the court’s decision, Dr Aukot wants Mr Chekubaki to vacate the office for operating unconstitutionally.
“We have no option but to call for the immediate resignation of one Wafula Chebukati as the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. The IEBC Act prescribes the qualifications of the chairman to be equivalent to those of a Supreme Court judge. That being the case, we demand that the said Wafula Chebukati resigns as the Chairman of the commission for the following reasons,” Aukot said.
“The unconstitutional presidential nominations of Raila Odinga, William Ruto, George Wajackoya and Mwaure Waihiga be immediately quashed and the presidential ballot printing is shelved until a proper nomination exercise is carried out in accordance with the underlying law and the constitution and without malice, differential treatment of aspirants and outright bias as demonstrated by Wafula Chebukati,” he added.
Dr Aukot also said Mr Chebukati failed to interpret the law correctly and proceeded to deny him and some aspirants’ clearance based on the unconstitutional regulation. According to Dr Aukot, the electoral commission introduced the regulation in 2017 and only decided to use it as a tool for conducting a subjective and predetermined selection process instead of a nomination process.
The party had filed a case at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi against Chebukati following the clearance of presidential candidates on the August 9 General Election.
In his petition, Aukot claimed that the respondents have bungled the 2022 presidential election after conducting a strange subjective selection process that is unknown to the Kenyan Constitution and by introducing requirements outside the Constitutional threshold in Article 137.