The chairman of IEBC, Wafula Chebukati, has been under attack by persons from different political spheres in the country for some time now.
Chebukati, together with two commissioners breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi decided to overrule an application to have them removed from office.
Speaker Muturi disagreed with sections of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report that apparently targeted the IEBC chair and his commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye.
Muturi maintained that the report was inadmissible since it recommended dismissal of public officials in ways that were nothing short of unconstitutional.
He noted that Chebukati and the commissioners were constitutional public office holders and any attempt to remove them from office ought to be in line with the law.
The Speaker went ahead to term the report by the MPs as being offensive to the laws of the land.
“That the cited text of General Recommendation of the report having been found to be offensive to the Constitution and therefore inadmissible for debate by the House are forthwith expunged from the Report. The House shall make no reference to either text in its consideration of the report,” asserted Speaker Muturi.
In overruling the report, the Speaker also informed that such a removal warrants to be exercised in accordance with Article 251 of the Constitution, wherein a petition is duly filed for the removal of the specified state officer.
However, Muturi communicated that expunging some parts of the report targeting the IEBC Chair and commissioners did not imply that the entire report by PAC was obliterated or discredited.
He further directed that the report would be further discussed after the committee makes necessary amendments in accordance with his ruling.
Interestingly, the speaker also directed that sections that called for the dismissal of former IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba also be removed from the report for they assumed the work of the Commission on grounds such as gross misconduct.