Rigathi Gachagua Sends Appeal to Ruto to Reconstitute IEBC

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has read malice in the government’s delay in reconstituting an electoral body as he sent a request to President William Ruto.

Gachagua attended a Church Service at P.C.E.A Mwiki in Kasarani, Nairobi, on Sunday, December 8, where he took another swipe at his former boss, this time regarding the country’s lack of an electoral commission.

“And on matters of IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission), an election is as credible as the process. The electoral commission must be in place three years before the election, now we have two and a half years remaining there is no IEBC and people can read mischief,” Gachagua alleged.

According to Gachagua, the country was behind schedule since a commission should have been constituted three years before the next general election.

He thus urged the President to work on constituting the IEBC with urgency, with barely three years to the next general election.

The former DP added, “We are thus calling on the reconstitution of IEBC urgently so that the process can be as credible as the expected outcome.”

In what is becoming a familiar trend with Gachagua, his comments came barely 24 hours after Kenyans went online in an interesting campaign to apply pressure on the government to set up a functioning electoral body.

The trend, dubbed #appointiebcnow, saw hundreds of Kenyans voice their concern about what they termed a deliberate attempt by the Kenya Kwanza Government to establish a functioning IEBC.

Amid pressure from Kenyans and his political adversaries and critics to set up an IEBC, President Ruto now finds himself in a tight spot since January is the earliest the process to set up a functional electoral agency can start.

This is because of two pending court cases challenging the appointment of a panel to pick the IEBC’s commissioners.

During the same church service, Gachagua also took the chance to thank his allies for speaking up against the Kenya Kwanza government as he urged the church to keep calling out malpractice in the government.

This was the former DP’s first public outing, coming more than a week after he was subjected to hostility during a burial in Limuru –  an event which he termed as a “well-planned attempt on my life.”