Date of polls to move to December as proposal wins massive support

The push to move the date of the General Election from August to December received a significant boost after a majority of House leaders supported the idea.

The Bill, initially sponsored by Ugenya MP David Ochieng’, was among the key issues under discussion at the annual retreat of the leadership of the National Assembly in Mombasa.

But MPs will have to make numerous amendments to the Constitution as changing the date of the election would also involve changing parts of the supreme law touching on the election of the President, governors, MPs, senators and Members of the County Assembly.

Among key decisions would be whether to extend or reduce the term of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission members, which is a political as well as a legal issue.

Mr Ochieng’s Bill was taken over by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, on which he sits, and will require the support of at least two-thirds of each of the Houses as it goes through each stage in Parliament.

Nyeri Woman Rep Priscillah Nyokabi, the vice-chairperson of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, said the Bill would also include provisions to ensure the gender principle is fulfilled.  

“We are all interested in the resolution of this matter. I think the agreement is that the earlier we resolve the election date the better,” said Ms Nyokabi, who led deliberations on the matter.

The proposal was among the resolutions at the end of the retreat yesterday afternoon read out by Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso.

“The House (is) to start addressing in earnest the issue of date of next General Election, tenure of IEBC and the constitutional one third gender requirement,” she said.

Ms Nyokabi said the resolution of the matter would set the country on a well-established election cycle while the terms for the elected representatives and the executives at every level would also be properly set.

Ms Nyokabi found the proposal to include the fulfilment of the gender principle in the Bill by taking the proposals initially made by then Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo a hard sell.

In the discussions late Friday, a majority of the committee heads and members of the House Business Committee supported the idea to change the date of the election but were jittery about proposals to fulfill the one-third gender rule.

“It had been decided long before that the best date for election is December,” said Mr Ochieng’. “Most Kenyans aspire that elections be done when they are not very busy. Let’s have elections in December and start the year with a new government,” he added.

He argued that with an election in August, a challenge of the presidential result at the Supreme Court would complicate matters both for the country and the electoral commission.

IEBC COMMISSIONERS

A run-off of the presidential election would have to be held within 60 days of the General Election and the timelines on the release of the election results and filing a petition at the Supreme Court would likely push it to November.

The terms of the current commissioners expire in November 2017 and are not renewable, meaning that a run-off would be close to or even after the date they are to leave office.

If the Constitution is changed and the General Election moved to December, this will also mean that a new set of inexperienced commissioners will be in charge.

The commission chaired by Justice Johann Kriegler recommended after the bungled 2007 General Election that members of the electoral commission should be in office at least two years before an election.

“We must deal with the IEBC issue whether we change the date or not,” said Mr Ochieng’.

Speaker Justin Muturi also supported the idea.

He said that because Parliament is required to stop sitting 60 days before the date of the election, there would be no MPs to approve the annual Budget as required in June.

This would not only put the country in a crisis but affect funding for the election.

“It is not a matter of the current Parliament wanting to extend its life. It should be looked at realistically,” said Mr Muturi.

He said Parliament would also need to change all other articles in the Constitution affecting the election of the President down to that of the MCAs.

Majority Leader Aden Duale said the life of the current IEBC would have to be extended one way or another.

“There has to be serious public participation and involvement of all stakeholders,” said the Garissa Town MP.

HOT POTATO

Mr Duale described the proposal to correct the gender principle as a political hot potato.

“We better start very early so that when it becomes very hot, we know where to throw it. If your Bill goes with two-thirds gender rule, it won’t go anywhere,” said Mr Duale.

Parliament has an August deadline to deal with the matter following the Supreme Court’s advisory.

Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee chairman Njoroge Baiya said the matter of the election date needs to be solved as early as possible.

As per the Constitution, Parliament would need at least 200 days to pass a Bill to amend the Constitution as it can only go through the Second Reading 90 days after being introduced via the First Reading.

“I support taking the election date to December. We should move faster and have that amendment done,” said Mr Baiya.

He said the proposals on resolving the gender issue come to naught because MPs take political stands whenever the issue comes up.

He said the perception that the size of Parliament would increase too much if the proposal to have additional MPs nominated to fill the gender gap is wrong.

Because East African Community members have an agreement to approve their budgets at the same time, said Public Investments Committee chairman Adan Keynan, Kenya must have the budget approved by Parliament in June.

If the Constitution is not changed the next elections will be held on August 8, 2017, but this would shorten the term of the current Parliament to four years, four months and 11 days.

This has provoked suggestions that MPs be paid for the remainder of the time they would have served had the term been allowed to go for the five years.

If the proposals in the Bill by Mr Ochieng’ are accepted, the term would be four years, eight months and 15 days.

But Parliament would not be dissolved and MPs remain in office until the day others are elected, only that there will be no sittings.