President William Ruto has been urged by the leader of Azimio La Umoja One in Kenya, Raila Odinga, to prevent the appointment of an IEBC commissioner.
He argued that the process should end and the selection panel reformed with members chosen from political parties during the Azimio Rallies in Likoni, Mombasa County.
"We want President William Ruto not to have sole control over the election commission, the IEBC. To pick the IEBC commissioners, Azimio and Kenya Kwanza will sit side by side", according to Odinga.
Odinga has vowed to hold nationwide protests starting on March 20 to stop the current selection of commissioners for IEBC.
The Azimio Coalition claims that President Ruto is attempting to create an electoral commission to assist his bid for reelection in 2027 and has withdrawn from the IEBC—Commissioner recruiting process.
Similar to the Inter-Party Parliamentary Group from 1997, the opposition leader appears to be advocating a bipartisan effort (IPPG).
Nevertheless, President William Ruto dismissed the Opposition Coalition's calls to halt the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner recruitment process.
To thwart the reformation of the election body, President Ruto instructed his bitter adversary Raila Odinga to fight for changes to the IEBC Act, stating that he would not tolerate impunity in the nation.
"Those advising They want me to stop following the law and the Constitution and start doing what they like, which is not legal. Ruto continued", "I want to apologize and tell them I won't do it".
He said, "During a Thanksgiving ceremony in Tharaka Nithi County, someone said, "If we do that, we will encourage impunity in Kenya".
President Ruto reiterated that he would defend the law in his government and insisted that anyone dissatisfied with the appointment of the IEBC commissioners seek legal recourse through amendments.
The President emphasized that since everyone is subject to the law and no one is above it, Odinga cannot make demands orally and expect them to happen.
"Anyone who disagrees with legislation should amend that particular section. Ruto added that we would all abide by the Constitution as it is and will do so until it is changed".
When touring the county for the first time since entering office, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance Leader stated that the ongoing process for choosing poll body commissioners complies with the law.
While the five institutions needed to provide the IEBC panel with the names of their nominees are governed by IEBC support, Ruto defended the recruitment of the selection panel according to the law.
He refuted the claim made by the Azimio Coalition that the Kenya Kwanza administration was acting unilaterally in initiating the process.
"I only gazetted the selection panel to handle the IEBC commissioner selection procedure. Since the President cannot appoint anyone under the Constitution", I have no favoured individual I have recommended.
