On Sunday, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua gave the strongest signal that he was preparing for a faceoff with President William Ruto in the August 2027 election.
The ex-DP, whose tenure was cut short after the Senate upheld his impeachment motion supported by 282 MPs, alluded to being part of the duel.
He called on President Ruto to immediately nominate members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to facilitate the preparations for the next elections.
IEBC presently has no commissioners after the tenure of three commissioners led by chairman Wafula Chebukati ended, while four others quit by resignation.
Gachagua said his side reads mischief in the delayed reconstitution of the polls agency, pointing to a negative trend in the country.
“People can read mischief (in the delay). We are calling for the constitution of IEBC urgently so that the process can be as credible,” he said.
While lamenting that the polls body is yet to take shape less than three years to the election, Gachagua added, “An election is as credible as the process.”
Thee former deputy president is reportedly working with Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka to come up with a team to challenge Ruto in the next election.
IEBC preparedness has been a core concern at the country’s elections, especially since the chaos that greeted the 2007-08 polls.
A commission on inquiry chaired by former South African judge Johann Kriegler recommended that it was best that the IEBC be in place three years before the elections.
A standoff in the nominations, which is the subject of a court contest, has barred Parliament from sending nominees to the team that is to pick the new commissioners.
Kalonzo’s Wiper party and the Political Parties Liaison Committee have yet to agree on who will be the minority side representative on the panel.
A cautious Gachagua argued that the current administration had got a comfort zone in the standoff , warning that time was running out.
He called on the head of state to heed the recommendations of the Kriegler taskforce which investigated the causes of the 2007 election violence.
“The Kriegler report said the election body be in place three years to election…we are less than three years and nothing is going on,” Gachagua said. He was accompanied by MPs Njeri Maina (Kirinyaga), Jayne Kihara (Naivasha), Senator Joe Nyutu (Murang’a), Wanjiku Muhia (Kipipiri), John Kagucia (Mukurweini), James Gakuya (Embakasi North), and Senator John Methu (Nyandarua).
The lawmakers were not allowed to address the congregants of the PCEA Church in Mwiki but their representative also spoke on the IEBC question.
Nyandarua’s Methu said the Ruto administration should “install the IEBC if you (government) have nothing to hide”.
For the government, the delay was because of an injunction that stopped the recruitment of the selection panel. Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said the government had no intention to delay the process but was simply abiding by the rule of law.
“The parties in court should try and reach an out-of-court settlement so that we conclude this process. is is a country governed by the rule of law,” he said.
The DP said there were political parties who have not agreed on their representatives, and as such, should go on and agree as soon as possible to pave way for a new IEBC. He spoke at a time his predecessor Gachagua also castigated the government for being intolerant to divergent opinions.
He asked his former boss and his team to listen to the issues Kenyans, especially the church, were pointing out.
“We ask our leaders
to respect the church. If the church
has pointed out problems, they are
saying the truth, as they listen to the
people’s complaints directly,” Gachagua said.
