Editor's Review

This comes even as President Ruto and Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga agreed on a bi-partisan parliamentary process to reconstitute the IEBC selection panel.

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has moved to court to block the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). 

According to court papers, Omtatah wants the IEBC Amendment Act No.1 of 2023, which paved way for changes in the composition of the IEBC selection panel invalidated.

He claims that the law is invalid as it was passed by senators without considering the Senate Justice, Legal Affairs, and Human Rights Committee report.

“The Chairman of the Senate's Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights was forced by the Executive to ambush the committee members. He unilaterally ambushed the Committee members and the House when he withdrew the Committee's report which he had tabled on behalf of the Committee, to avoid it being debated and subjected to a vote,” Omtatah’s petition reads in part.

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File image of Okiya Omtatah

The new IEBC law was passed by the Senate on January 19 and was assented by President William Ruto on January 23.

Omtatah also wants the court to bar President Ruto from appointing any person as a member of IEBC until the case is determined.

This comes even as President Ruto and Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga agreed on a bi-partisan parliamentary process to reconstitute the IEBC selection panel.

"I urge my brother Raila Odinga and the opposition to call off demonstrations and give a bipartisan approach a chance for us to take Kenya forward," Ruto said in a State of the Nation address on Sunday.