Azimio la Umoja party leader Raila Odinga has announced that he will hold countrywide rallies to engage the public on the ouster of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice Chair Juliana Cherera.
Speaking in Kisumu county on Sunday, November 27, Raila stated that the rallies will begin in major cities in Kenya and will spread out to other towns.
Odinga, who initially declared mass action, resorted to consulting with Kenyans before taking a final stand on the fate of Cherera, Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit, and Francis Wanderi.
“We will have a meeting on Wednesday, November 30, at the Kamukunji grounds to ask them if they accept these commissioners to be sent home,” Odinga revealed.
The second and third rallies will be held in Mombasa and Nakuru respectively.
Raila insisted that the four commissioners were innocent and accused President William Ruto of going after them because they refused to fold into his demands.
He claimed that Ruto wanted to do away with the IEBC staff who would be a stumbling block to him defending his seat in 2027.
“This regime which came into power through rigging elections is hell-bent to send home commissioners who stood firm on the truth.
“IEBC is a referee and cannot be appointed by a player. So we will not allow Kenya Kwisha to impose a commission, that is not acceptable,” the former Premier explained.
In addition, Odinga called out the President for not taking any action to lower the cost of living in the country citing the rise in costs of basic commodities.
On the contrary, he blamed Ruto for making life harder for Kenyans by doing away with some of the income-generating opportunities created by the previous regime.
“People are suffering and some of the palliative measures which had been introduced by the previous government like Kazi Mtaani have also been stopped,” the opposition chief stated.
Raila castigated Ruto for failing to deliver the promises he made to Kenyans during the August 2022 campaign and slammed him for introducing interest to the Hustler fund.
The issue of the four commissioners led to a public exchange between the two leaders on social media with each accusing the other of trying to impose their way on the people of Kenya.
Cherera and the three commissioners were scheduled to appear before the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) on Monday, November 28 and Tuesday.
JLAC began hearings for the four embattled commissioners on Thursday, November 24 but members of the committee affiliated to Azimio coalition boycotted after staging a walkout.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE
