Nasa MPs to boycott 12th Parliament's first sitting

MPs allied to the National Super Alliance (Nasa) have vowed to stay away from the first sitting of Parliament until the Supreme Court makes a decision on the legality of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election.

President Kenyatta has through a notice in the Kenya gazette summoned the 12th Parliament for the first sitting on Thursday next week.

But MPs affiliated to Nasa insist they will boycott the ceremony until the matters surrounding President Kenyatta “supposed” re-election are heard and “credibly” determined.

In a statement, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed said Nasa will not be party to processes geared towards sanitising “fraud”.

WAR

“There is a rush certainly, suicidal in our view, by Mr Kenyatta to defraud Kenyans into believing that all is well and that he is rightly and properly in office. Nasa rejects this fraudulent attempt by Jubilee to bury reality,” Mr Junet said.

He added: “It is a psychological war that is meant to make Kenyans adjust into accepting a third stolen election as they await a fourth similar fraud in 2022.”

Mr Junet, who issued the statement on behalf of Nasa steering committee, challenged the President to seek to overcome the divisions in Kenyan society that the campaign and “his so-called victory” have highlighted since he was declared as the winner on August 11.

“Recognising and respecting the fact that he has only a disputed mandate as yet and that his so-called victory is being challenged would be a useful first step in calming down our increasingly restive society,” he said.

SUPREME COURT

The legislator said the move by the President will deepen the crisis of governance that has troubled the country in the past 10 years.

“We remind the Jubilee Party that in the wake of the botched 2013 elections and the Supreme Court’s controversial decision, a huge section of our country never accepted the legitimacy of the Jubilee regime, even as we agreed to put up with it for the sake of the country. Continuing on this path will never be helpful at all,” he said.

Article 126 (2) of the Constitution gives the President the power to appoint the place and date of the first sitting of the new House, which shall not be more than 30 days after the election.

Article 142 further clarifies that the president shall hold office for a term beginning on the date on which the president was sworn in, and ending when the person next elected is sworn in.

The hearing of the Presidential petition filed by Nasa leader Raila Odinga is expected to officially start Friday) and the judgment is expected on September 1.