President William Ruto has weighed in on Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga’s planned public rallies to engage
Kenyans on the ongoing probe of four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners by Parliament.
The four; Juliana Cherera, Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya are being grilled after petitions were
filed challenging their suitability to hold office, following their disowning of the August 9 Election presidential results.
Raila on Sunday announced a plan to traverse the country to engage Kenyans on the fate of the four commissioners, starting Wednesday at the Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi.
On Monday, President Ruto welcomed criticism from the opposition but urged Raila’s camp to ensure they maintain peace during their activities.
“I want to tell our brothers in the opposition to work with us and criticise whatever they want to criticise, but let’s keep the country peaceful.
We want to do our job and we want the opposition to do their job, but they should do it peacefully,” the Head of State said at Tatu City in Ruiru, Kiambu County.
He however scoffed at the opposition for their method of airing grievances against the government, saying “I do not think organising demonstrations and getting Kenyans to do the things they want to do is part of holding any government to account.”
He labeled Raila’s plan “street fights” which he said “work for nobody, not even for them,” and urged Odinga to be careful about pitting Kenyans against each other.
“I want to encourage them not to hold Kenyans against one another. Street demonstrations and street fights should not be part of the script of any responsible opposition, unless they want to be a dictatorial opposition,” said Ruto.
The National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee began hearing the petitions filed against the four commissioners last Thursday.
The committee is expected to listen to the petition for four days before retreating to make a decision on the quartet’s fate.
The petitioners want the commissioners removed from office for constitutional violations, as well as gross misconduct and incompetence.