Cord legislators delay special House session to protest changes to election law

Opposition MPs last evening thwarted a determined effort by their Jubilee counterparts during a special session to amend the controversial Elections Act and the accompanying regulations which will guide the conduct of next year’s polls.

It was a chaotic sitting punctuated with fist fights, name calling, an attempt to grab the Mace and claims that some MPs had used pepper-sprays against their colleagues. When the session ended in acrimony, journalists were asked to leave the gallery while the live broadcast of the session was switched off.

Shortly after the session ended, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, Mr William Ruto sent text messages to Jubilee legislators, summoning them to a crisis meeting at State House, Nairobi, today.

Yesterday’s special session had been called to endorse the Budget Policy Statement and Debt Management Strategy as well as pass amendments to the Elections Act, a law which was enacted just a month ago.

CONTROVERSIAL LAWS

Members were also required to approve nominees to the Commission on Revenue Allocation and the National Climate Change Council.

But determined Cord legislators were eyeing only the controversial laws to stop it from going through.

Early in the day, a security cordon was thrown around Parliament buildings before debate started.

Protesting opposition MPs blocked National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi from making his way into the Chamber for two hours as they tried to block debate on the Elections Laws (Amended) Act and the yet-to-be approved Election Regulations that will govern  the next polls.

TRANSACT BUSINESS

Led by Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo, the MPs blocked Mr Muturi from entering the House at 9.30am by clutching at the doors of the August House to ensure that the Mace — the Assembly’s symbol of authority — did not get into the House. Members cannot transact any business without the Mace, an eight kilogramme gold-plated symbol usually placed on a table at the centre of the House.

At noon, Majority Leader Aden Duale emerged from a crisis meeting, announcing that the standoff had been resolved.

“We have had a presentation from the IEBC and the Communications Authority. Over 25 per cent of Kenya and over 2,000 sub-locations do not have the requisite network for the foreseen transmission of results,” Mr Duale told journalists in reference to the proposed amendment to have a backup to the electronic identification of voters and transmission of results.

Later, when the MPs tried to block the Mace for a second time, they were outmanoeuvred by the Parliament orderlies. The House’s symbol of authority then became its most guarded asset, with two guards, and at one time four, guarding it.

CONTENTIOUS AMENDMENTS

In the House, it became quickly apparent that it was not only Cord and Jubilee that were squabbling over the election laws, the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, whose members were the originators of the contentious amendments, was divided.

“We must not use the powers we have to make laws that will drive this country to anarchy. I sit in the committee and this matter has not been presented to us,” said one committee member, Mr Johana Ng’eno (Emurua Dikirr, KNC).

Cord leaders stood their ground that it was a mistake for the Jubilee Coalition to propose the amendments, which among other things, provide that the electoral commission can use manual means to identify voters and transmit election results in case technology fails.

While Jubilee says that the amendment was necessary to ensure that voters are not locked out should technology fail in a polling station, Cord has insisted that the commission had been funded well and should deploy  technology that should not fail.

PANDEMONIUM BROKE OUT

Immediately after Mr Duale tabled the amendments, pandemonium broke out in the Chamber.

“Mr Speaker, we are here unnecessarily. Please, send us home, I plead with you,” said Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo. “Let us not allow this lawmaking body to be used to make the wrong laws. And there is no way you can say that it is only Jubilee, and not Cord, that can see bad elections and want to rectify it.”

However, Mr Duale said that the amendments he sought to be “recommitted” had passed through all procedures, a claim that the Cord team denied.

“How do you say you recommit completely different laws that were not in the amendment? What we are seeing is desperation par excellence,” said Ms Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay County, ODM).

At one point, Mr Muturi asked the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chairman, Mr Samuel Chepkong’a, to explain to the House how the report was adopted.

ADOPT REPORT

He directed that Mr Chepkong’a tables the report showing when the amendments were discussed, the proposed amendments and how the committee adopted the report.

“The issue is not whether you have a report of the IEBC, Hon Chepkong’a,” Mr Muturi said as the House grew more agitated. “It is whether what you have just tabled was debated by your committee and that there is a report to it.”

Earlier, Mr Chepkong’a had said that while the document was from the IEBC, the committee had sat, listened to the proposed amendments and adopted them.

“This is a report of the IEBC itself,” said Mr Chepkong’a. “And I can table the report. I do not have it here because I did not think that people will say that it was not discussed in the committee.”

However, David Ochieng (Ugenya, ODM) said: “I am a member of the JLAC committee. I was there when the IEBC CEO made his presentation, and I can tell you that there was nothing discussed like is in this report.”

Mr Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town, ODM) said: “What is this that Jubilee wants to show us that they are the only ones who care about elections? Elections are for all of us, but we cannot use this House to sneak in laws that were not available.”

Meanwhile, the House yesterday rejected in totality the Election Campaign Finance Regulations that sets limits for how much candidates should spend in their campaigns, as well as a now-contentious requirement for them to open and file with the electoral agency bank accounts they will use for the 2017 elections.