CORD Vows to Protest over Amendments on Elections Laws
KENYA: The senate is today set to discuss the amendments made on the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2015 which was passed by the National Assembly earlier in the week.
CORD MP's had boycotted the voting that passed the amendments on the electoral law, instead the legislators walked to Milimani Law Courts and lodged a complaint.
The changes on the electoral law allow for manual transmission of election results as well in identification of voters if the electronic system fails.
CORD said the changes were a ploy by the Jubilee government to rig the 2017 election.
This has set the stage for street protests and possible violence in the countdown to the elections, scheduled for August next year.
On voter verification and results transmission, the law provided that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) would carry out the verification of voters in all polling stations using biometric data for 30 days. This was to be done 90 days before the election.
During the presidential election, IEBC would be required to transmit results electronically from a polling station to the constituency tallying centre and to the national tallying centre.
After tallying and verification at the national tallying centre, the IEBC would be required to publish the results on its online public portal.
On procurement and use of technology, the IEBC was expected to procure necessary technology at least eight months before the election; test, verify and deploy it at least sixty days before the election. The technology used for the election was restricted to the process of voter registration, identification of voters and results transmission.
The law, which took effect on October 4, was negotiated by the a select committee of both National Assembly and Senate after five months of street demonstrations led by opposition leader Raila Odinga to force out the nine commissioners of the IEBC.
Soon after, the Jubilee side sought to amend the elections Act. Among the changes it sought to the law was to allow for manual voting in case of a failure of the Biometric Voter Identification kits, an increase in the maximum number of voters per polling station from 500 to 700, a change to clauses limiting spending by politicians and political parties; and removal of the clauses that require that MPs must have a university degree and Members of County Assemblies a diploma.
According to the Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly, Aden Duale, the requirement to allow for use of the manual register was necessary to enable over 2,000 remote locations across the country that have no mobile telephone coverage to vote. He also said that scores of Kenyans could not be identified by the BVI kits because they were either amputees or had damaged fingers.
The Jubilee side's decision to introduce changes to the new Act rattled the opposition, which viewed the new proposals with suspicion, and vowed to block them.
A special sitting of parliament on Tuesday ended in disarray after Cord MPs blocked debate on the amendments. This forced the Speaker to convene a second special session on Thursday.
The opposition claimed the amendments would weaken the election laws to give room for rigging.
Moses Wetang'ula, the Senate Minority Leader, claimed Jubilee was keen to allow the use of manual registers during voting because some of the people registered were below the mandatory age of 18, and would, therefore be picked out by Biometric Voter Registration gadgets.
"It is no secret that there over 1.2 million people in the election register which the Jubilee wants to use to rig the elections. We will not let Kenya become a banana republic. We will meet them on the streets," he said.
Mr Wetang'ula also claimed that a meeting at State House on Wednesday attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto and majority leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale, had decided that the amendments would be passed without debate and by all means.
According to James Orengo, who was the co-chair of the select committee, the amendments are against the law and contrary to the spirit of give and take that was realised during the dialogue.
"We are hopeful that the court will overturn the amendments after Jubilee bulldozed them without proper debate and voting. The best way was to place the proposed amendments before the committee that negotiated them," he said.
In 2013 elections, some BVI gadgets and electronic transmission of results failed forcing the IEBC to resort to manual system.
Section 44 (1) of the Elections Laws Amendment Act, 2016, says that "There is established an integrated electronic electoral system that enables biometric voter registration, electronic voter identification and electronic transmission of results. Section 38 (A) says that "For the efficient and effective conduct of elections, the Commission shall determine the number of voters per polling station but such number shall not exceed five hundred voters."
Jakoyo Midiwo, the minority leader in the National Assembly said there will be no election like the one in 2007 when the opposition trusted the government of former president Mwai Kibaki to hold clean polls but which turned into disaster.
"This is the beginning of a long-drawn street protests. Jubilee did not allow debate and therefore we have taken out fight to the streets. They can have their guns inside parliament illegally but they cannot intimidate the courts," said Mr Midiwo.
Cord had applied to the High Court on Thursday to stop parliament from sitting but the court declined to grant its plea.
Barring a court ruling declaring the parliamentary session illegal, or yet another negotiated process rescinding the amendments, the clauses introduced by Jubilee will apply in the 2017 elections.
Source: AllAfrica, The African Post,
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