The fate of Bungoma Senator Mr Moses Wetang’ula will be known this week.

The electoral commission meets on Tuesday to review and consider a Supreme Court report on voter bribery allegations made against the senator.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is set to determine the matter after Senate Speaker Mr Ekwe Ethuro published the election offences against Mr Wetang’ula allowing the commission to take up the matter.

IEBC is now expected to spell the way forward for the Cord co-principal who was found guilty of voter bribery by the Supreme Court in March in a case that was filed against him Mr Musikari Kombo who was also eyeing the Bungoma Senate seat in the last election.

Mr Ethuro was first required to publish the Supreme Court’s report in the Kenya Gazette before the electoral body could take up the matter for review and consideration before making a recommendation for any further action.

SENSITIVE MATTER

There are fears that with the latest turn of events, the beleaguered politician could be barred from participating in the next elections if his name is struck off the voters’ register.

A former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Wetang’ula, by virtue of being the only Cord co-principal serving in the current Parliament is the opposition chief within Parliament. He is the Minority Leader in the Senate.

When contacted by the Nation on Sunday, IEBC Chief Executive Officer Mr Ezra Chiloba declined to comment on the matter terming it sensitive.

He said there has been a lot of confusion in how the media has reported the issue but insisted that the commission would issue a statement on its decision when it meets on Tuesday.

And speaking to Nation, Jubilee Senator Paul Njoroge Ben came to the defence of the Bungoma Senator and asked the electoral commission to handle the matter cautiously.

“My appeal to the IEBC is that they really need to consult widely before making a decision,” he said.

The nominated Senator said he does not support deregistration of the senate Minority Leader from the Voters’ list.

He argues that it is IEBC that cleared and declared Wetang’ula winner of the 2013 election beating Mr Kombo where it is claimed he committed election offences.

“For me that would be the most unfortunate thing to do. If they deregister him they will be contradicting themselves. We are all watching, we don’t want games.

On this one, we really want it to be democratic,” he said.

“If anybody realty wants to knock Wetang’ula out, then he should do in the right way” he added.

JUBILEE BLAMED

Deputy Minority Whip in the National Assembly Dr Chris Wamalwa on the other hand insisted that Jubilee was behind Mr Wetang’ula’s woes.

“They are targeting him, they are trying to see how they can win the Luhya votes and the truth is that the definite leader right now in Luhya land is Mr Moses Masika Wetang’ula,” the Kiminini MP said.

He said Jubilee’s intention was to cripple Mr Wetang’ula and divide the Luhya vote.

“The community is not ready for Jubilee rejects like Eugene Wamalwa and Musalia Mudavadi whose ANC is their project. Fortunately we are already aware of that scheme and we are solidly in Cord behind Wetang’ula and that is why they want to kill him politically so that he does not have a bargaining vote in 2017,” he said.

The MP urged the IEBC to be fair and consider Wetang’ula’s side of story before reaching a verdict.

“This is a Jubilee ploy to frustrate Weta and the Luhya community will not accept it. We are warning IEBC not to do anything that is not within the law,” he stated.

However, Senator Njoroge argued that Mr Wetang’ula’s Cord could be as well involved as Jubilee is alleged to be in his predicament.

BECOME A THREAT

According to the Senator, Mr Wetang’ula could be a victim of political manoeuvre's from both the Jubilee and even his Cord backyard, owing to his growing popularity.

He asked the Bungoma senator to be cautious of not only the Jubilee coalition but also of his own Cord associates, arguing that he had become a threat to some of his partners in consideration of future political arrangements.

“They would also want him out of sight because he is becoming a big threat considering that of late he seems to have won the confidence of not only his Luhya community but also I can see the Kikuyu community is becoming a fan of him as time goes by,” he said.

He further said there was every indication that Jubilee might consider working with the Bungoma Senator come 2017.

“Cord should stop playing these games. This is not a Jubilee-Cord issue. This was purely a Court matter and I think we all need to support Senator Wetang’ula on this because I don’t think it makes any sense to me for him being knocked out at this point,” he said.