AG Githu Muigai gives Wetang’ula fighting chance

Attorney-General Githu Muigai has asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to give embattled Bungoma senator Moses Wetang’ula a full hearing before determining whether or not to strike out his name from the voters list. 

Prof Githu Muigai has written an advisory opinion to IEBC which proposes that the commission should only pronounce itself after such a hearing.

“We have advised the IEBC they must have a formal hearing.  He will defend himself. It’s not a court process but the commission is giving him an opportunity to be heard,” said Prof Muigai.

According to the AG, the commission will scrutinise the High Court ruling from Bungoma that found Mr Wetang’ula had committed an election offence as well as the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court decisions that affirmed what the Appeal court had found.

ADVISORY OPINION NOT BINDING

An advisory opinion is not binding on the IEBC, which has in its hands the decision that could cripple the Senate Minority Leader and Cord co-principal’s political career.

IEBC has said that it will take a process to arrive at a determination on what to do with Mr Wetang’ula.

Commissioners of the country’s electoral body met on Wednesday to deliberate on the Supreme Court verdict that found him culpable of an electoral offence in 2013.

The commission held a plenary meeting that lasted almost the whole day.

The plenary consists of the nine commissioners and the chief executive officer, Ezra Chiloba, who is the secretary.

The commission has been in a dilemma on how to proceed with the matter given the high stakes involved.

The Supreme Court found Mr Wetang’ula guilty of voter bribery in a judgment that would require the IEBC to remove his name from the register of voters, a situation that would lock him out of the next elections.

WETANG'ULA TO BE DELETED FROM REGISTER OF VOTERS

Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro in October published the judgment in the Kenya Gazette paving the way for the commission to “consider the report and delete from the register of voters” Mr Wetang’ula, according to the elections law.

The Wednesday meeting, according to sources within the commission, revealed the dilemma the IEBC is facing.

The sources said that some members wanted to strike the Senator off the register, but others said the matter was too sensitive and needed to be handled with care.

They wanted Mr Wetang’ula to be given a hearing to avoid feeding into the perception that the commission was biased against Cord.

They have agreed to have another meeting to come up with a final decision.

“The commission has been at a crossroads since during the election petition (by former Cabinet minister Musikari Kombo) it rejected the irregularity claims made by Kombo. How they can abandon that position and turn around to say something contrary to what they told the courts is something that will require a lot of courage,” a source from the commission said.

IEBC'S OVERHAUL

In addition, commissioners feel the matter could once again put them on a collision course with the Opposition which has been demanding IEBC’s overhaul.

The commissioners were also reportedly afraid that the Cord-led Public Accounts Committee may drag their names in the mud over the bungled procurement of electoral materials used in 2013 General Election.

“So that Cord supporters do not see Jubilee’s hand in whatever it does, the commission may want to give Wetang’ula a chance to present his defence before any decision is made,” the Sunday Nation was told.