Tribunal appointed by President Ruto to commence probe on IEBC's Irene Masit

The tribunal formed by President William Ruto to probe the conduct of four suspended IEBC commissioners is set to host a status conference on Friday, December 9 during which three commissioners who have tendered their resignation are expected to file their letters.

The Justice Aggrey Muchelule-led tribunal is expected to only probe the petitions against Commissioner Irene Masit, whose lawyer Donald Kipkorir insists that she has not resigned.

Commissioner Francis Wanderi has become the latest commissioner of the IEBC to throw in the towel, a week after his suspension. In his letter to the president, Wanderi says that his decision “has been necessitated by undue and unwarranted public lynching based on falsified information tainting his reputation and integrity.”

Wanderi says that he has resigned, “not because he is guilty of the allegations leveled against him, but because there comes a time when the country is more important than any individual.”

Wanderi joins his former colleagues Julianna Cherera who until Monday was the IEBC vice chair and Justus Nyangaya who resigned Friday last week.

Wanderi says that the “Cherera 4” exercised their right to express themselves on last-minute decisions of the  IEBC Chairperson, which amounted to a lack of transparency, high-handedness and dictatorial mannerisms.

This as Commissioner Irene Masit chose to stay put, expected to defend her role as an IEBC commissioner. Lawyer Donald Kipkorir tweeted saying that commissioner Masit has instructed him to defend her tenure at the IEBC, adding that he has filed a constitutional petition at the High Court against the tribunal processes.

Reports from the tribunal indicate that a status conference called for Friday will take stock of recent developments among the suspended commissioners, during which the commissioners or their legal representatives should furnish the tribunal with the said resignations. The team will still have to write a report to the president in accordance with the terms of reference.

As he left, Commissioner Wanderi stated, “I trust that the government will institute a standing body to address the corporate governance issues with IEBC, including disputes among commissioners, to avoid future boardroom raptures.”

Despite the resignations and therefore non-requirement for the commissioners to appear before the tribunal, some of the members of parliament prefer the formation of an independent commission of inquiry to look into the August 15th events and the preceding developments that ended up with a split commission, divided on the final outcome of the presidential election.