Jubilee moves to have polls body table report on foreign funding in House

The Jubilee Party-allied lawmakers want the electoral commission to table in Parliament details of the money it receives from foreign donors as well as a list of employees seconded to the agency by the aid groups.

This follows President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jamhuri Day warning against what he said were foreign donors splashing money on Kenyan elections to sway voters “in the guise of civic education”.

Led by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, the Members of Parliament (MPs) said that they had details that the opposition Cord coalition is working with foreign powers to influence the August 8, 2017 General Election in their favour.

The ruling team also said that they had written to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to ask for the sacking of a Mr Michael Yard, who they said is “part of the scheme” to influence the polls.

They were speaking at a press conference at the Jubilee Party headquarters where they accused Mr Odinga to rig the 2017 General Election by using the electoral technology that he has insisted must be used in the polls.

“Raila Odinga’s insistence on technology does not come as a surprise to the Jubilee coalition,” Mr Duale said at the party offices in Pangani.

"He wants to use the technology to rig the elections. Why is he insisting on BVR (Biometric voter recognition)?

"In 2013, he went to court arguing that the technology failed. So, what has changed heart?”

In the press conference, Mr Duale was accompanied by at least 10 MPs.

“We are not giving IEBC a blanket cheque. We are only saying that the manual system should be used only if the deployed technology fails. If it works in the 47 counties, no problem,” Mr Duale said.

SPECIAL SITTING
Mr Odinga had last Friday, with his new-found political friend Musalia Mudavadi of the Amani National Congress, said that MPs should not change “even a comma” in the law that was created by a 14-member bi-partisan parliamentary committee following violent and deadly demonstrations.

Mr Duale asked Mr Odinga to stop policing the commission or be fully immersed “by applying to be a member, the Chief Executive or Head of Procurement”.

The IEBC, Mr Duale said, had proposed the amendments because some areas in Kenya “do not have mobile network or even power”.

A report to Parliament by the IEBC said about 10 per cent of Kenya is not covered by any network, and only 17 per cent of the county is covered by 3G network that will be used by the results transmission machines.

Mr Duale argued that if not amended, the law requiring the IEBC to use only electronic voter identification and transmission will likely lock out voters in some areas.

“The amendment will safeguard the constitutional right of voters to vote. What happens when you [go] to a polling station and the technology fails?” he posed.

The Jubilee team said the ‘alternative proposed will be accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable and transparent"'.

However, Cord management committee co-chair James Orengo has refuted the claim saying "Raila is not trying to rig the elections. He wants to make it impossible to steal them".

The Siaya senator claimed that the electronic devices used in the 2013 elections were "made to fail" and a repeat should not be allowed in 2017.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has recalled the House to debate among other things, amendment to the law that promises to be a stormy session after the Opposition described such a move as a betrayal of the select committee’s charged and emotional talks.

LEAVE THE GAME

Cord MPs were asked to attend a Joint Parliamentary Group meeting on Monday to discuss the special sitting.

“The issues on the table for Cord, include even resuming the street demonstrations,” ODM Director of Elections Junet Mohamed told the Nation when he confirmed the meeting.

Mr Mohamed said that the law from the committee must not be changed.

"Why should about Sh10 billion of taxpayers money be sued on a technology that Jubilee is now sure will fail in 2017?

"Why is Jubilee anticipating that there will be failure of election machines in 2017?" Mr Mohamed asked.

Mr Orengo said that the Cord team will have a Parliamentary Group meeting Monday at Capitol Hill, Upperhill Nairobi to deliberate on the planned amendments.

In the presser, Mr Duale told Mr Odinga: "Use your last bullet. If it cannot work, hang your political boots. It is not a must that you must rule this country.”