IEBC talks collapse as NASA protests 'drastic' Election Bill

Siaya Senator James Orengo arrives at Bomas of Kenya for talks with IEBC and Jubilee on the repeat presidential election, September 28, 2017. /LUKE AWICH
Siaya Senator James Orengo arrives at Bomas of Kenya for talks with IEBC and Jubilee on the repeat presidential election, September 28, 2017. /LUKE AWICH

IEBC talks with stakeholders collapsed on Thursday after NASA representatives walked out of the meeting.

Siaya Senator James Orengo said the Jubilee party has come up with a proposed Bill they cannot accept.

The Bill states that the results of the next presidential election will be determined by what is transmitted manually.

It seeks to amend the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Elections Offences Act by giving manually transmitted

results

more clout than the electronically transmitted ones.

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"The rules of the game should be agreed by all players. They should be fair and justifiable. Jubilee Party is arrogant," Orengo said.

Orengo said the Bill is an example of what President Uhuru Kenyatta termed as "fixing" the Judiciary if he wins the October 26 repeat election.

"This meeting with IEBC doesn't make any sense. We shall leave Jubilee to do whatever they wish and want, but they should be held responsible for what happens thereafter," the NASA politician said.

He said they went to the meeting

in good spirit only to be disappointed.

"It looks like this is an exercise in futility

and our participation

makes no sense.The chairman of the commission also feels the same way," he said.

Orengo said

some of the commissioners who are "hirelings of Jubilee" are happy with the amendments but noted that others are dumbstruck with the changes.

"There objective is to amend everything which was the basis of the verdict of the supreme court," he said.

He said everything that went wrong in previous election has been sanitised by the proposed Bill.

"Government

can now use public resources

for campaign.They are amending

because

they know they were in breach of the law," he said.

Orengo termed the amendments drastic, adding that they go beyond enabling amendments for better elections.

"They have reached a level that they feel they can do anything

through the backdoor. We will leave them to their own desires and we will hold them responsible in what will come," he said.

He said IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati is a lonely figure and the Bill, should it be passed, will tie his and other commissioners' hands at the back.

On Wednesday, IEBC, Jubilee and NASA agents took a so the two political sides can

consult their principals.

The presidential candidates are Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga respectively.

They will meet at the ballot for the repeat election on October 26, following the historic Supreme Court ruling that invalidated Uhuru's victory.

The break came after more than an hour behind closed doors at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi on Wednesday.

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