Gumbo faults President Kenyatta over IEBC appointments

Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo has faulted President Uhuru Kenyatta’s list of nominees to the IEBC commission citing lack of regional balance.

Gumbo said that they cannot accept the marginalisation trend by successive governments where every appointment of electoral commissioners excludes the Luo community.

According to the legislator, the Luo are not squatters in this country to be sidelined on matters regarding the management of elections.

Gumbo lamented that it has become a trend, citing the appointments that were made of the nominees into the then Interim Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IIEBC) and later appointments into the Isaak Hassan-led IEBC saying that no Luo was considered.

The Rarieda MP made the remarks during the close of Migwena sports and cultural festivals in Bondo constituency, where he stated that it is high time that the Luo community came out strongly to demand their space in the management of this country’s elections.

This comes just three days after President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Wafula Chebukati as the new IEBC chairman and alongside six commissioners including Consolata Bucha, Boya Molu, Roselyne Akombe, Paul Kurgat, Margaret Mwachanya and Abdi Guliye something Gumbo claims was not fairly conducted.

Gumbo was accompanied by Mombasa County Assembly Speaker Thaddeus Rajwayi and Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda among others.

However, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has come out to defend the choice of the IEBC chair and commissioners saying those who oppose their nominations believe in tribalism instead of merit.

“Those who say Chiloba comes form one community and not the other are people who believe in a tribal Kenya,” he said.

Duale noted that the Jubilee Administration was looking for people who could do the job regardless of their ethnicity.