Lenaola to replace Chebukati at IEBC – Weekly Citizen

Plans are afoot to appoint Supreme Court Judge Justice Isaac Lenaola the next Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman to replace Wafula Chebukati if plans by a section calling for reforms at the institution succeed and sail through parliament. According to highly placed sources, Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have settled on Justice Lenaola due to his sterling performance at the Judiciary and principled leadership. The other aspect is that his image among the international community has earned him accolades. Remember the late Justice Zaccheaus Chesoni was appointed by Moi regime as electoral boss and was the only one who left smiling. After his tenure at the electoral agency, he was named Chief Justice. Lenaola, who was born in December 1967 in Samburu county was the presiding judge of the Constitution and Human Rights Division of the High Court and deputy principal judge of the East Africa Court of Justice before joining the Supreme Court.

Isaac Lenaola

His Samburu background is also coming to his advantage to accommodate disadvantaged communities in prime slots, said an MP well versed with behind the scenes happenings. He further revealed that if Uhuru can wine and dine with Raila Odinga, those claiming Lenaola was among the Supreme Court judges that nullified Uhuru 2017 win and hence at war with those surrounding presidency are misplaced. In fact, the ruling has added another feather to his CV as being independent-minded one of the key inputs required at IEBC. Surprisingly, Lenaola name also features among those to succeed current Chief Justice David Maraga but his age being his undoing. He can mark time at IEBC and still go for CJ slot later, according to a senior counsel we talked to. He joined the Supreme Court in 2016 after a lengthy interview to fill the vacant positions left by Justice Philip Tunoi and Justice Kalpana Rawal who had attained the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70 years. Justice Lenaola was among the four judges who annulled the presidential election held on August 17 2017 and ordered a repeat on October 26, the same year. Chebukati was appointed to replace Issack Hassan in 2016.

Wafula Chebukati

According to the constitution, the office of the chairperson or a member of the commission becomes vacant if the holder dies or resigns from office by notice in writing addressed to the president or is removed from office under any of the circumstances specified in Article 251 and Chapter Six of the constitution. It is not clear whether Chebukati will voluntarily resign or will be forced out but there have been calls for his removal due to poor performance.Chebukati, who was born in 1961, holds Master of Business Administration from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi and Post Graduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law. But Chebukati had to defend his past association with Philip Kinisu who was forced to resign as chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission after investigations found he had business deals with NYS yet it was an agency his commission was to investigate.

Zaccheaus Chesoni

Chebukati’s tenure has been marked with confusion and claims of ineptitude which saw three commissioners resign and later try to make a comeback but their efforts were thwarted by Justice Chacha Mwita who held that Consolata Nkatha, Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat resigned legally. Early this month, there were reports of a plot to frustrate Ruto’s 2022 poll dreams by having a proposal contained in the Building Bridges Initiative report that allows political parties to nominate commissioners to the IEBC sail through parliament. The proposal had the backing of Uhuru and Raila camp that want a model akin to the one used in 1997 under the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group, where outfits were allowed to name people to the agency. In its report, the 14-member BBI team led by Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji, proposes that leaders of parties with at least one MP be given a role in the recruitment in the commission.

Issack Hassan

They should nominate individuals who are non-partisan, with a record of accomplishment and integrity, and who are not known political supporters or activists. But Ruto’s allies are determined to oppose any move by Raila to re-organize the commission for political convenience in 2022. Chebukati on his part called the proposal ill-advised, saying political parties are loyalty-based institutions and are unlikely to have non-partisan individuals. He told the Haji team that political parties members’ actions may be motivated by political interest contrary to the constitution. In 1997, Kenya adopted the IPPG model that allowed parties to name people to the electoral commission. Samuel Kivuitu was named the electoral agency chief replacing Chesoni. Kivuitu, who died in 2013, was replaced by Issak Hassan in 2011 before the entire commission was sent home in 2016, paving the way for the troubled Chebukati team.