Government Printer summoned over elections law

MPs have summoned the Government Printer to explain the inordinate delay in the publication of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act (IEBC).

Speaking at a meeting in Parliament, Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) said his team will meet Government Printer Mr Andrew Rukaria to get an explanation into the murky circumstances that occasioned the delay.

The CIOC had convened a meeting with the Attorney General Amos Wako, the Justice Minister, the Kenya Law Reform Commission, the Treasury, the Taskforce on Devolution and the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, to chart the way forward in the rollout of the new governance regime.

As he booked the date with Mr Rukaria, Mr Mohammed said the Government Printer had pending issues that “have never been explained”, top of the list being the controversial and illegal editing of the then draft Constitution in which the words “national security” were introduced to curtail freedoms.

Investigations into the scandal were never explained and the blame was laid on the National Security Intelligence Service.

The meeting between the CIOC and the Government Printer is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at 4pm.

Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo told the CIOC that the delay in the publication was as a result of resistance to the implementation of the Constitution.

“We’re satisfied that the handling of the IEBC Act borders on fraud,” said Mr Kilonzo.

The minister said there are people within the system who are “in denial” and have gone flat out to frustrate the implementation of the Constitution.

“I can’t pinpoint the person or people involved, so don’t ask me to substantiate,” the Justice Minister said.

Ms Martha Karua, the MP for Gichugu, said a law was needed to govern the management of the government press because so far, and more so, with regard to the publication of the IEBC Act, the Government Printer had “behaved in a very old manner”.

She said it is the duty of the CIOC to dig deep and expose the “actual saboteurs” to the implementation of the Constitution.

“It is our duty to name and shame so that the public knows the enemies of the Constitution,” said Ms Karua.

On Monday, Government Printer Andrew Rukaria denied reports that his office had refused to publish the IEBC Act, saying the document had been published and was retailing at Sh150 per copy at the Government Press bookshop.

“I don’t know what they are talking about; the document is in our bookshops and it is retailing at Sh150. The Attorney General was given his copy, ask him,” Mr Rukaria told the Nation on phone.

But Mr Kilonzo told the House committee that he was forced to wait for the government printer to issue copies of the Bill and even so, he only got two copies of the Bill.

“In fact it is the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation who called me saying that the IEBC Act had already been published. I had sent delegations, one after another, and even cancelled my trip to Sidney (Australia) to attend a meeting of law ministers. But I waited and waited, until yesterday (Monday),” said Mr Kilonzo.