The electoral body’s leadership has termed the ruling as a major obstacle, which is slowing down preparations for the 2022 General Election.
IEBC leadership was appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, September, August 7, where they also cited pending bills of more than Ksh2 billion as part of the obstacles.
The commission noted it has moved to the Supreme Court to have some of the Court of Appeal judgements, especially one that declared IEBC lacked requisite quorum, quashed.
However, according to the Legal Affairs Director Michael Goa, the decision to move to the Supreme Court was not his brief as he advised the electoral body to seek alternative views on the matter.
“My honest view was to get an opinion from an independent advocate because according to me the grounds cited are still the same,†Gao stated.
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed commissioners Juliana Cherer, Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit and Justus Nyang’aya to fill the slots that have been vacant for nearly three years after four commissioners resigned.
According to acting IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan, who appeared before the committee, the pending bills relate to the 2017 General Election and the repeat presidential poll.
The pending bills initially stood at Ksh4.3 billion and but the commission has since paid Ksh2 billion.
Marjan noted that most of the bills were legal fees to lawyers who acted for the commission in various election petitions, amounting to Ksh1.3 billion.
He added that a bill amounting to Ksh700 million was owed to suppliers of ICT services.
This comes a day after a former nominated Senator Paul Njoroge moved to court, asking the August 9, 2022 polls to be declared null and void on the basis that it will cut short President Uhuru Kenyatta’s term by a couple of months.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
