Wamalwa: I am not plotting against Wetangula

Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has denied allegations by a section of opposition Cord legislators alleging that he is part of the jubilee government’s plot to block Cord Leader Moses Wetangula from vying for any political seat in 2017.

Speaking in Kitale, Wamalwa called on Cord to stop politicizing the matter, saying he is not involved in the alleged plans to remove the name of the Ford Kenya leader from the voters register over voter bribery claims.

He also condemned the planned prayer rally for Wetangula at Posta grounds, in Kitale.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will now determine whether Wetangula’s name will be struck-out of the voters register, after senate speaker Ekwe Ethuro published election offences against Wetangula.

About three days ago, Wetangula officially wrote to the IEBC seeking audience with the electoral body as he moved to block the removal of his name from the voters’ register.

If the commission deletes his name from the voters’ register after reviewing a Supreme Court report on a voter bribery case he faced, the cord co principal could be barred from running for office in future.

Through a battery of lawyers led by Siaya Senator James Orengo, Wetangula pointed out three reasons to challenge any attempt by the electoral body to remove his name from the voters register and so allow him to defend his seat as bungoma senator.

“The first reason is that IEBC cannot strike out his name without hearing him, and so they must listen to him…Secondly, The By election that he stood absolved him of any blame, so he is blameless,” said Orengo.

The third reason was based on the constitutionality of section 87 of the Elections Act, which in her concurring opinion the vice president of the Supreme Court and the Deputy CJ Kalpana Rawal noted;

“Section 87(1) is unclear, insofar as it signals the possibility of a re-trial within the criminal process. This ambiguity ought to be clarified through legislation…’’

“There is no way you can undergo trial for electoral offence and at the same time the file forwarded to the DPP for investigation for criminal conduct. The National Assembly must fix that,” noted Orengo.

Orengo dismissed any possibility of a re-consideration of the decision by IEBC to clear Wetangula to vie for the by-election back in 2013, in view of the ruling by the Supreme Court, saying the electoral body defended Wetangula’s election as legitimate at some point during the trial.

“IEBC cannot reconsider because even the Supreme Court itself quashed the Court of Appeal ruling barring Wetangula,” said Orengo.

IEBC is currently considering Orengo’s letter, even as Cord exudes confidence that Wetangula will be cleared of any wrong doing.