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Irene Masit, one of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners who opposed former IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati’s declaring President William Ruto’s winner of last year’s hotly contested presidential election, has been fired.
“I William Samoei Ruto, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defense Forces, in exercise of the authority vested by Article 251 (6) of the constitution, do hereby direct that the appointment and tenure in office of the Irene Cherop Masit as member of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission be and is terminated with immediate effect,” Ruto said in a gazette notice dated March 1.
Gazette Notice of President William Ruto firing IEBC Commissioner Irene Masit, who opposed his election. pic.twitter.com/RvipDEyrhF
— Maurice Ndole (@MauriceNdole) March 2, 2023
The move comes after a tribunal led by Justice Aggrey Muchelule found Masit guilty of gross misconduct during and after the August 9, 2022, general election.
Ruto fired Masit following recommendations from a tribunal he appointed to investigate the conduct of the commissioners.
Masit was the only commissioner who faced the tribunal. Her colleagues, Former IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera and commissioners Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya, resigned from IEBC before the hearings charging the process was unfair.
The four commissioners were accused of serious violations of the Constitution and other laws, gross misconduct, and incompetence after they rejected the presidential election results.
In a dramatic move never-before-seen in Kenya, the four commissioners held a press conference at Serena Hotel as the vote counting continued at Bomas of Kenya and rejected the election results accusing Chebukati of a lack of transparency in declaring Ruto the president.
Masit denied the allegations, stating that she acted impartially and professionally, but the tribunal found her guilty.
The tribunal determined that Masit failed to uphold transparency, accountability, and verifiability in her role as an IEBC commissioner and engaged in unethical behavior, which undermined public trust in the electoral commission.
Critics have called the process a sham and geared to give Ruto an opportunity to appoint loyalists as IEBC commissioners.
On Monday Ruto appointed a 7-person panel to recruit a new IEBC chairman and fill the vacancies left by the commissioners.
The panelists are: Bethuel Sugut, Novince Euralia Atieno, Charity S. Kisotu, Evans Misati James, Benson Ngugi Njeri, Nelson Makanda and Fatuma Saman.
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