DP Ruto says Jubilee won't engage IEBC in tender talks

President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto have said the Jubilee Party will not be involved in any more talks with the electoral commission over the award of the presidential ballot paper printing tender.

The two stated that their party will not sit in any tender committee to decide who supplies presidential ballot papers for the August 8 elections.

While campaigning in Narok County on Tuesday, Mr Ruto said: “We leave IEBC to determine  who to give the tender.

We want to state categorically that we will no longer engage the IEBC, but will wait to meet our competitors at the ballot where we will show them dust.”

HIGH COURT

The electoral commission is locked in a stalemate after the High Court last week made a judgement directing the agency to make fresh tendering of the ballot papers printing.

Speaking at OlMekenyu, the DP said the role of choosing who prints ballot papers belongs strictly to the poll agency.

He claimed powerful cartels funding opposition Nasa were arm twisting the IEBC to give them the presidential ballot paper printing tender.

“We will not sit in any meeting on tenders because we do not have a printing press of our own or tenderpreneurs,” said the DP.

CONSTITUTION

Mr Ruto added that the many cases that the opposition has lined up in courts are designed to deny Kenyans their fundamental right to vote as provided for in the Constitution.

The two leaders warned the IEBC against being drawn into what they termed as a conspiracy to deny Kenyans their right to vote, stating that all that Jubilee wants is Kenyans going to the polls on August 8.

President Kenyatta accused the opposition of using courts to try and have the election postponed.

“Kenyans are ready for the polls and nothing including the many cases will stop the elections,” the Head of State said as he urged the courts to avoid being misused by the opposition to scuttle the election process.

NAROK

The Jubilee leaders were back in Narok to woo voters hot on the heels of Nasa’s two-day campaign tour in the region two weeks ago.

The tour also comes four days after the death of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery.

The President warned the opposition to stop threatening Kenyans with violence and that it is voters who will determine the outcome of the election.

He also announced that the government will not evict families from Mau Forest.

MAU FOREST

“Nobody will be evicted from the Maasai Mau forest land. The government has also lifted the caveat placed on the land in 2005 during former President Kibaki’s regime,” he said.

Mr Kenyatta also revealed that the government had allocated funds to help evicted families rebuild their lives as well as schools and other social amenities.

Besides accusing Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga of engineering the Mau evictions, the President commissioned various projects in the county perceived as a swing-vote region.

LAMI ROAD

Accompanied by Narok leaders led by Governor Samuel Tunai, he addressed political rallies in Olmekenyu (Narok South), where he commissioned the Sh700 million Ololulunga-Olmekenyu Road, before flying to Ilmotiok and Oloolaimutia (Narok West) and Kisiriri in Narok North.

At Kisiriri he launched the upgrading of the Kisiriri-Mwisho wa Lami Road and ended his tour with a rally at Narok Stadium after handing a bus to Maasai Girl’s High School and title deeds to residents of Olokurto division adjudication section.