Last of Cherera 4: Ruto fires Irene Masit from IEBC
President William Ruto President has sacked Irene Masit as IEBC commissioner following recommendations of a tribunal that was formed to probe the conduct of four commissioners in the electoral body.
In a gazette notice published on Wednesday, the president removed Ms Irene Masit, coming days after he received the report from the tribunal.
“The appointment and tenure in office of Irene Cherop Masit as a member of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission be and is terminated with immediate effect,” President Ruto said.
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Ms Masit was the only commissioner who was still in office after the president suspended the four commissioners who disputed the final results of last year’s presidential election.
Former IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera and former Commissioners Justus Nyang’aya and Francis Wanderi, who were involved in serious violations of the Constitution during the election, resigned days after being suspended from office.
“This Tribunal recommends that Commissioner Irene Cherop Masit be removed from office as a member of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission,” the tribunal recommended in its report.
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According to the tribunal, Ms Masit’s actions of agreeing to the proposal by the two delegations to moderate the result of the Presidential Election to enable a re-run with the promise that there would be a reward if that was done amounts to gross misconduct on her part.
“The actions by the commissioners to proceed to Serena to issue the presser to disown the result that she had participated in tallying and verifying were intended to undermine and erode public trust in the commission and in the result. In our considered view, these actions amounted to gross misconduct,” the tribunal said.
This comes a day after the President gazetted a team that will be in charge of recruitment of the new IEBC commissioners ahead of the 2027 election.
The tenure of the former IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati came to an end in January after presiding over two elections.
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