Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Members of Parliament on Monday held a peaceful walk to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices to protest over the interdiction of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ruth Kulundu.
Kulundu was last week issued with a letter from the commission’s CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan asking her to respond to alleged misconduct in the previous weeks.
The deputy CEO is being accused by IEBC of convening a commission plenary meeting on August 26th without the approval of the IEBC CEO.
The legislators On Thursday last week, called upon the commission to reinstate her within 48 hours or else they will take unspecified action.
“We shall initiate some unspecified actions as of now but actions that will compel all of them to abide by the law,” said the MPs.
Further they termed the move as a witch-hunt by Chebukati to Kulundu for having assisted the four dissenting IEBC commissioners.
They added that it is part of a well-orchestrated scheme to intimidate public officers who stand by the rule of law.
In a statement read by Ruaraka Member of Parliament Tom Joseph Kajwang on Monday during the walk, the outfit said Chebukati and Marjah’s actions portray an institution that has abandoned its independence and resorted to pleasing the executive.
The team demanded that IEBC immediately reinstates Kulundu to her position within 24 hours, failure to which it will take stern action against Chebukati and Marjan.
“…that IEBC immediately reinstates Ruth Kulundu to her rightful position of deputy CEO within the next 24 hours. Failure to which we shall take stern action against Wafula Chebukati and Hussein Marjan.”
They also urged the CEO Marjan to abide by the law and discharge his duties failure to which they say he should relinquish his position ahead of pending polls.
The march became messy as police lobbed teargas to disperse Azimio supporters at the Anniversary Towers.