House members split over Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission

Five members of the House Justice and Legal Affairs Committee were on Wednesday evening reported to have differed with others on whether to send the members of the electoral agency home.

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) members were said to have been preparing a minority report. The committee has 29 members.

Sources at the meeting said those backing the minority report were Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town), David Ochieng (Ugenya), Agostino Neto (Ndhiwa), Christine Ombaka (Siaya Woman Rep) and Tom Kajwang’ (Ruaraka).

This means the committee, which is scheduled to inform the House of its verdict will table two reports instead of one.

A Jubilee member of the committee was reported to have expressed reservations with the decision of his colleagues because the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is yet to pay clerks who worked in his constituency during the last General Election.

Committee members headed into a meeting at 5pm still split along political lines. The situation had not changed as they worked on recommendations to the House.

Once tabled, the House Business Committee will give MPs time to study the report and then have it placed on the Order Paper for debate and possible adoption.

All reports from committees have to be adopted. A rejection means the House is not in agreement with the committee. (READ: Fate of IEBC on the cards as Parliament opens)

CALLED OFF PRESS CONFERENCE

Those from Jubilee argue that the petition by political activist Wafula Buke does not meet the threshold to have the National Assembly ask the President to set up a tribunal to investigate the commissioners and possibly have them removed. (READ: IEBC petition ‘no Cord project’)

Mr Kaluma had earlier on Wednesday called a press conference to talk about the minority report on the petition but later called it off because he would have broken House rules by discussing committee matters in the public.

The rules allow members of a committee who disagree with its findings to have their dissent recorded in the report.

House committees generally prefer to present a united front because a split usually results in the debate on whether the report should be adopted, acquiring a purely political dimension.

Speaker Justin Muturi had initially given the Committee 14 days to submit its report on the petition but the House later agreed to give it a 30-day extension.

This means the report should be submitted on Thursday.

Mr Buke’s asserts that the commissioners were in violation of the Constitution and were responsible for incompetence in the management of the elections in 2013.