Experts query bid to change election date

Legal experts have questioned the bid to move the next General Election date from August to December.

This follows the move by Parliament’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to approve a Bill seeking to amend the Constitution and shift the date of the General Election.

Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and other experts say the proposed date will not be practical as the mandate of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will have expired a month earlier.

CIC chair Charles Nyachae Friday said he was not sure new IEBC commissioners will have been picked within a month to conduct polls in December.

“The tenure of IEBC expires in November 2017 and I think this is a key factor MPs should have considered before changes,” Mr Nyachae, who was flanked by his five commissioners, said.

Chairman of defunct Committee of Experts Nzamba Kitonga and LSK chairman Eric Mutua also confirmed the expiry date of IEBC tenure while sharing similar sentiments.

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“The process of appointing IEBC commissioners takes not less than three months. It is, therefore, unrealistic for anyone to say they will be able to appoint them within a month so they can conduct elections in December,” Mr Kitonga told the Saturday Nation.

Mr Mutua said Kenya may consider holding future polls in December but not in 2017.

POWER TO EXTEND
While acknowledging the date of the expiry of IEBC team’s tenure, the electoral body’s communications manager Tabitha Mutemi said Parliament had power to extend it.

The Bill was sponsored by Ugenya MP David Ochieng. Members of the Justice committee argued that an election in August would likely result in a situation where a presidential run-off would be held when schools are still in session.

An August poll would also be affected by the budgeting cycle because MPs would be busy campaigning in May and June, the period during which the Budget is scrutinised.

They said a December date would be most appropriate as the budget for the General Election would have already been decided on and approved.
Contacted, ODM said the time was not yet ripe for the party to discuss the matter.

“The issue will soon come up for discussion in the Senate and we shall also discuss it within the party organs,” party secretary-general, Prof Anyang Nyong’o said.

But both TNA and URP said they respect the mandate of Parliament to amend laws.

TNA secretary-general Oyango Oloo wants Parliament to explain the Bill to stakeholders.

His URP counterpart Fred Muteti said Parliament can decide if new election commissioners can be recruited before expiry of the current commissioners’ tenure.