Nairobi — A section of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya legislators are now pushing for the halting of the impending boundaries delimitation by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Led by Ruaraka MP T.J Kajwang, the lawmakers, who had made their way to IEBC headquarters to protest the interdiction of the Deputy CEO Ruth Kulundu, insisted that the poll agency cannot conduct the exercise with a "dysfunctional" secretariat.
In particular, the leaders accused the IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein of disregarding the law in the conduct of the agency's affairs a situation they said had rendered the commission in effective.
"IEBC must call to order Marjan Hussein and demonstrate to Kenyans that he shall abide by the value and principles of public service failure to which we shall demand that he relinquishes his position prior to the commencement of boundary review," Kajwang said, reading a joint statement supported by six legislators who accompanied him.
The legislators from the Raila Odinga-led coalition threatened to take stern actions on IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati and the agency's CEO for what they termed as favoritism and nepotism.
"We know that Chebukati is soon leaving the commission and with his new-found love with the regime he created, he is hellbent to destroy all structures we have labored to establish. We will not allow him," Kajwang said.
Vihiga Senator Geoffrey Osotsi accused Chebukati of intimidating officials at the commission alleging that the Head of the Department of Boundaries, Caroline Manyagi, had been relegated.
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"We have information that the head of that department has been relegated and her duties are now being performed by her juniors and we are saying we will not allow Chebukati to become a dictator," Osotsi said.
IEBC is responsible for the demarcation of electoral boundaries guided by population and other considerations set out in law.
According to Article 89 (5) of the Constitution, constituency boundaries are such that the number of inhabitants in the constituency is as nearly as possible to the population quota.
Article 89 of the Constitution requires IEBC to review names and boundaries of electoral areas at intervals of not less than eight years and not more than 12 years.
IEBC is set to use the official census data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics based on the 2019 population and housing census results to guide the review of electoral boundaries.
During the last review in 2012, a constituency was defined roughly by a population quota of 133,138.
Should IEBC maintain this figure, the likelihood of reorganizing constituencies becomes high given a significant population growth.
The quota is arrived at after dividing the total population with 290, the prescribed number of constituencies in accordance with the Constitution.
Recent reports have indicated that about 30 constituencies mostly from the northeast and coast regions may fail to meet the population quota setting them up for mergers to create room for the splitting of others with a significantly higher population.
