Balala will not be anywhere near Kenya Kwanza govt

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 10 – Allies of President Elect William Ruto have come out to say that Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala will not be part of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance government. On his twitter account, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei castigated the Cabinet Secretary for being part of the leaders who worked to humiliate Ruto during his campaigns and hence there was no room for him in the latter’s government. This is despite the praises that Balala heaped on Ruto and Deputy President-Elect Rigathi Gachagua that indicated that the Tourism Boss who has previously distanced himself from politics, might be in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance fold. “CS Balala @tunajibuwhen 10 rhinos died mysteriously he insulted Kenyans & went to bed with despots when HE Ruto was being humiliated he shall Not be anywhere near Kenya kwanza govt,” Cherargei wrote on his twitter. The Nandi Senator went further to ask the Tourism CS who is the longest-serving Minister having served 17 years as a Minister, of which 12 years as the Minister of Tourism to prepare for retirement claiming the Tourism docket has suffered during his tenure. Balala served simultaneously as Member of Parliament for Mvita Constituency, Mombasa, and as Minister for Tourism from April 2008 to March 2012. In 2015, he was re-appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Tourism & Wildlife by the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. “Retire with uhuru peacefully you have served 15years and the tourism sector plummeted! “stated Cherargei. This comes hours after the Tourism CS pushed for the prosecution of the four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) who disowned the August 9 presidential results. Balala pointed out that the move by the four commissioners who include Juliana Cherera (Vice Chair), Justus Nyaganya, Francis Wandera and Irene Masit was nothing short of impunity that risked plunging the nation into chaos. “Impunity must be dealt with or otherwise it will return to haunt us….. the people who almost caused bloodshed on the night of the IEBC result announcement…the likes of team Cherera must be brought to book,” Balala wrote on twitter while reacting to a tweet that Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen. The Elgeyo Marakwet Senator had tweeted asking President-elect William Ruto not to allow his principal secretary to insult leaders as he pointed it was the conduct of leaders in the Jubilee administration. In the reply, Balala mentioned that the four dissenting IEBC commissioners being brought to book was nothing out of vengeance arguing that their acts of impunity being ignored might haunt the nation in the future. “It is not vengeance but order in the public interest,” he tweeted The Supreme Court ruled that last minute wrangles in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cannot be a basis for nullifying the presidential election. The judgment was read by Chief Justice Martha Koome on the issue of whether the electoral body carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with Article 138 (3) (c) and 138 (10) of the Constitution. The Supreme Court bench ruled that even though the provision of the constitution doesn’t envisage that the Chairperson should act alone in the verification, tallying, and declaration of results, the four dissenting commissioners were not locked out of the process. “We however take cognizant that the four dissenting commissioners actively took part in verification, tallying and declaration of the results from the beginning and until just before the declaration of the results,” Koome stated. “They took turns announcing the results that were verified and tallied and were present and active during the actual verification exercise at Bomas,” she said. The 7-judge bench upheld the tallying process saying IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati worked in line with Article 138(4) and 138 (10) of the constitution as he involved the rest of poll commissioners until the last minute before violence erupted in Bomas. “Are we to nullify an election on the basis of last-minute boardroom rapture? The details that remains of which scanty and contradictory between the chairperson and part of its commissioners,” Koome stated as she read the summarized ruling.