Raila: Hire new poll chiefs by month-end

Cord leader Raila Odinga addresses mourners at the funeral of Wiliam Ragana in Murumba Village, Ugunja constituency, on September 3, 2016. Mr Odinga said speeding up the hiring of new electoral commissioners would give the team enough time to prepare for next year’s General Election. PHOTO | NELCON ODHIAMBO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Addressing mourners at the weekend, Mr Odinga said speeding up the hiring of new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners would give the team enough time to prepare for next year’s General Election.
  • He also urged President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to immediately start implementing the recommendations on electoral reforms made by the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee.

New electoral commissioners should be hired within the next one month, Cord leader Raila Odinga has said ahead of his tour of western Kenya that starts today.

“We want the seven electoral commissioners to be in office before September 30,” Mr Odinga said at a funeral in Central Alego, Siaya County, on Saturday evening.

His visit comes in the wake of a sustained onslaught by MPs campaigning to popularise the Jubilee Party in the region, which voted overwhelmingly for Cord in 2013.

Mr Odinga will start his five-day tour in Kakamega County.

Governor Oparanya, ODM's deputy party leader, has in the past one week toured Malava, Navakholo, Ikolomani, Likuyani and Lugari to prepare the ground for Mr Odinga’s tour of the county.

ELECTORAL REFORMS

An earlier visit to the region by Mr Odinga was rescheduled last month because he had other engagements.

Addressing mourners at the weekend, Mr Odinga said speeding up the hiring of new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners would give the team enough time to prepare for next year’s General Election.

He also urged President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to immediately start implementing the recommendations on electoral reforms made by the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee that was co-chaired by Senators Kiraitu Murungi (Meru) and James Orengo (Siaya).

“If the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on [the] IEBC are fully implemented, cases of vote rigging will be unheard of,” he said.

'DWINDLING FORTUNES'

Even as the ODM leader and his allies were preparing for their western tour, MPs Benjamin Washiali (Mumias East), Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo), David Were (Matungu), Ayub Savula (Lugari) and Malulu Injendi (Malava) had stepped up their crusade to welcome the Jubilee Party in Kakamega County.

Mr Washiali described Mr Odinga's planned visit as coming too late due to the political realignments taking shape in the region.

“Mr Odinga has realised that there is a new political awakening in western [Kenya] and he is trying to redeem the dwindling fortunes of ODM in the region, but unfortunately it’s too late for him to do that now,” said Mr Washiali.

He and Mr Wangwe said Mr Odinga was welcome to meet his supporters but accused him of failing to address the region’s economic issues when he was prime minister in the Grand Coalition government.

Beside the campaign by Jubilee-friendly MPs, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi has also been wooing voters in the region as he seeks to strengthen his second bid for the presidency.

MUDAVADI TO RAILA: BACK ME

Mr Mudavadi, who was in Kakamega County to attend a funeral at the weekend, urged Mr Odinga and President Kenyatta to back his presidential bid in 2017.

He, too, has planned a tour of Kakamega that will start on September 22.

Meanwhile, Mr Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango on Sunday said his boss was ready to support whoever will be chosen as Cord presidential flag-bearer.

“While Mr Odinga intends to vie for the ticket in the coalition’s primaries, he stands ready to support whoever will emerge the winner in that primary contest,” he said in a statement.

He said the coalition’s flag-bearer would emerge through the laid-down procedures “that will safeguard the wishes of the coalition’s supporters and its leaders”.

He said Mr Odinga would not support a candidate outside Cord.