Battle lines drawn over talks on IEBC

A parliamentary team handling the petition for the removal of electoral commissioners has vowed to continue work even as Coalition for Reforms and Democracy gave an ultimatum to resume street protests if the committee does not suspend its operations.

Ol Jorok MP Murithi Waiganjo, a member of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), said it had completed hearing the petition and was only waiting to table its report in Parliament.

“Those telling us to stop working on the petition are doing so when we have already completed hearing it. It is noteworthy the select team is calling for us to give way when they are about to start the same work for which 30 days may not be enough,” he said.

However, Cord is threatening to resume street demonstrations if the government does not stop its largely dominated parliamentary team from bulldozing talks on electoral reforms.

Members of the Select Committee jointly chaired by Senators Kiraitu Murungi (Meru) and James Orengo (Siaya) have also threatened to pull out of the team if Parliament does not stop JLAC from proceeding with inquiries on the same matter, and tabling a report on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The committee met Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro and Parliament’s Deputy Majority leader Naomi Shaban on Friday and petitioned them to intervene over the matter to salvage the ongoing talks from being hijacked by a largely partisan committee.

The select team will hold public hearings in Nairobi for two days as the deadline to complete its work draws nearer.

The committee, established through a consensus by the Jubilee and Cord coalitions, met on Friday and agreed to receive the public’s views on July 25 and 26 at County Hall in Nairobi.
And on Sunday, Suba MP John Mbadi - who is also the chairman of ODM - confirmed that the Opposition will withdraw forthwith from the select committee if demands presented to the House leadership are not taken seriously.

“Our position is that we are uncomfortable with the Samuel Chepkong’a-led committee. This committee is simply a duplicate of the Select Committee which is balanced and rightfully picked to deal with the matter at hand,” Mr Mbadi said.

He added: “We have realised that we were duped for purposes of stopping the weekly protests. It appears to us that the government was not serious about this matter.”

UNNECESSARY MOVE

He said that the Opposition would walk away from the Select Committee on Wednesday if by end of business Tuesday, the Chepkong’a committee has not given up on the matter.

Mr Mbadi said that though Cord reinstated their members to the JLAC committee, it did so to allow normal parliamentary business to proceed but insisted that the committee must disengage from the IEBC inquiries.

“We may have no option but resume vigorous street demonstrations if no one listens to us on this committee fiasco,” he stated. The JLAC committee is expected to meet Tuesday to make a decision on the IEBC petition.

However, Mr Waiganjo, speaking to the Nation on Sunday, said it was surprising that the select team was blaming a departmental committee of Parliament for conducting work for which it is mandated by the Standing Orders.

He said the Select Committee was not responsible for the exit of the IEBC commissioners or appointment of a selection panel to appoint a fresh electoral team, which is the role of the JLAC.

“The passing of a motion for creation of the committee was defective since its mandate was already seized with the departmental committee,” he said.

The MP claimed the formation of the select team was to stop the street demos and focus discussion on IEBC and wider electoral reforms on the law, saying the team had achieved its mandate and should be disbanded.

Meanwhile, IEBC Chair Issack Hassan said he is seeking contempt proceedings against the Auditor-General’s office after a court order that sought to have parts of a special audit report on the electronic voting devices linking him to the procurement scandal deleted was ignored.

Reports by John Njagi, Isaac Ongiri and Jeremiah Kiplang’at