Raila: Jubilee plans to remove presidential term limit

Nasa Principal Raila Odinga addressing a political rally at Jacaranda grounds in Nairobi on September 17, 2017. He claimed that Jubilee plots to remove presidential term limit. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Odinga has accused the government of scheming to do away the with the use of technology in elections.

  • Raila reminded president Kenyatta that respect for the judiciary and other government institutions is not a choice but a requirement.

  • Mr Odinga also took a swipe at the re-emergence of state house delegations and “high” level sycophancy in the jubilee administration.

  • Mr Odinga also faulted Jubilee for claiming that Nasa is broke and therefore cannot finance its operations.

Nasa leader Mr Raila Odinga has accused the Jubilee administration of plotting to remove presidential term limit as well as the security of tenure enjoyed by judges.

Mr Odinga, who addressed a Nasa rally in Nairobi’s Embakasi area together with his co-principals Mr Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Musalia Mudavadi and a host of Nasa MPs, also accused the government of scheming to do away the with the use of technology in the elections.

According to Mr Odinga, technology made it possible to detect malpractices in the electoral system “that jubilee now wants to do away with.”

“We know what President Uhuru is planning, to be a life president. They want the Jubilee compliant judges and governors so that they can have their way. They even sponsored petitions against non-compliant governors. Uhuru is in office by fraud and not by the mandate of the people of Kenya,” Mr Odinga said on Sunday.

AMEND CONSTITUTION

Mr Odinga noted that Jubilee wants to use its "fake" majority in Parliament to amend the Constitution. He reminded President Kenyatta that respect for the Judiciary and other government institutions is not a choice but a requirement.

“Kenya does not belong to you. You can’t be a leader without the mandate of the people. The kind of anger you are exhibiting against government institutions means nothing. You cannot scare Kenyans by that kind of rage. If anything, Kenyans are more aggrieved than you because you attempted to steal their will,” he said.

Before the rally at Jacaranda ground in Embakasi East Constituency, the leaders attended a church service at the Africa Inland Church in the city’s Pipeline estate.

Mr Odinga also took a swipe at the re-emergence of State House delegations and “high” level sycophancy in the Jubilee administration saying it reminiscent of the previous administrations, started by founding president, the late Jomo Kenyatta and perfected by retired President Mr Daniel arap Moi.

Mr Musyoka lashed at the local and foreign observers in the August 8 elections saying they did not understand what was expected of them. The observers gave the outcome of the elections a clean bill of health saying it was free and fair despite complaints by Nasa.

However, when the Supreme Court nullified the outcome of the presidential election, the observers recoiled and said that the transmission was a huge issue.

APOLOGISED

On Sunday, Mr Musyoka claimed that some of the foreign observers like Mr John Kerry, who led a team of Jimmy Carter Foundation have already apologised to the Nasa leadership.

“The observers thought that because the turnout was good and the voting peaceful, the same applied to the results transmission. This was until the Supreme Court delivered its verdict that they realised that there was a problem with the transmission,” Mr Musyoka said.

He also claimed that only two polling centres out of the 40,883 gazetted centres sent their results as required by the law.

Mr Mudavadi named three polling stations in Embakasi East Constituency where the number of votes recorded in the last elections exceeded their respective registered voters.

They include Mwangaza that had 693 but 1207 voted, Utawala had 676 but 1168 voted and Unique estate, Kware where despite 682 registering, 1228 voted.

PROPER ELECTIONS

“What we want is uchaguzi bora (proper elections) not bora uchaguzi (elections for the sake of it) as our Jubilee friends would tell us. Proper elections will start with the removal of the complicit individuals at IEBC, who conspired with Jubilee to bungle the will of the people,” Mr Mudavadi said.

Mr Odinga also faulted Jubilee for claiming that Nasa is broke and therefore cannot finance its operations.

“They (Jubilee) are saying that we are poor because of our pay bill number to seek the support of Kenyans yet they fundraised and within two hours over Sh2 billion had been realised. They should not be overly concerned about what we do because it’s not their business,” Mr Odinga said noting that even the former US President Barrack Obama fundraised for his campaigns.

Mr Musyoka took a swipe at the recent presidential address of Parliament saying it was a Jubilee affair. He indicated that the Nasa MPs will continue to boycott Parliamentary business.

“You cannot call a Jubilee meeting and claim to have opened Parliament. What we saw was Jubilee MPs and the Executive but there was no Judiciary in Parliament as required! All the three Arms of Government should have been represented,” he said.