• Rejects assertions by disgruntled persons that their names were removed.
• Protests have been reported in Narok, Isiolo, Bungoma, and Muranga.
Image: FILE
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has dismissed claims that MCAs nomination lists were irregularly changed midway.
He said in a statement on Thursday that there was no way the list could be changed after it was put out for public review on July 27.
Chebukati said any changes to the list of specially-elected lawmakers could only be executed through a court order.
“We wish to inform the public that as per the Constitution and the Elections Act, the party list remains a closed list as at the date of general election and for the term of Parliament or county assembly, as the case may be, for which the candidates are elected and cannot be changed unless through an order of the court,” he said.
Chebukati explained that the list was published as received from political parties both in electronic format, and as uploaded by parties on the Candidate Registration Management System (CRMS).
The IEBC chairman said the commission also published a hardcopy printout of the nomination list – which ran in newspapers.
He explained that the IEBC invoked Section 36(4) of the Elections Act, 2011, which gives it the mandate to designate the party representatives on the basis of proportional representation.
Chebukati said in allocating the nomination slots, the commission applied the formula provided in Regulation 56(2) of the Elections (General) Regulations.
“The formula for allocation of seats to the respective political parties from the party lists shall be the number of seats won by a political party divided by the total number of seats multiplied by available seats for allocation in the respective House,” the regulations read.
Chebukati said the formula he used was applied through an electronic system and was free from any form of manipulation.
“It is simple, secure and accurate and is without room for either adverse human intervention or bias,” he said.
The electoral agency has come under sharp criticism amid assertions that party lists were changed to favour cronies and relatives of those who call the shots in parties.
The list published Wednesday has sparked a storm, with some observers pointing out that there are non-deserving cases and inclusions of persons who were not on the initial list.
UDA officials and supporters in Isiolo county on Thursday rejected the nomination list for the county, citing the inclusion of a non-resident.
They questioned the nomination of Mbuthia Waruguru, saying he was not from Isiolo county. They said grassroots leaders nominated Fatuma Abdullahi.
They accused senior officials at the party’s headquarters of interfering with the list.
In Murang'a, UDA supporters are mulling moving to court to stop the swearing-in of MCAs.
The group, which include people who claimed they were on the original list, said the oath-taking ceremony scheduled for September 21 will not happen until the list is reviewed.
In Bungoma, persons with disability have threatened to seek a court injunction to bar MCAs from being sworn in.
They say none of them was nominated by the region’s dominant party Ford Kenya.
Several Kenyans on social media have also lamented skewed nominations.
"All political parties and IEBC should be ashamed for turning the nomination lists for MPs, senators and MCA seats into an auction process where the highest bidders win the bid... Shame on you," Nairobi-based lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi said.
Nominations to special seats is usually hotly contested, as seen in a recent court order directing Wiper to list Mombasa businessman Abubakar Talib as its nominee to the National Assembly.
Edited by A.N