Jubilee opens new battlefront with Cord

Jubilee coalition MPs on Thursday opened a new battlefront with their Cord counterparts after forcing through contentious amendments to the law that will guide how the 2017 General Election will be conducted.

The MPs used their numerical strength to endorse changes to the Elections Act to allow for alternative voter identification and results transmission should the electronic system fail.
They also voted to suspend the implementation of the Elections Campaign Financing Act until after the 2017 elections, effectively giving a leeway for politicians to enjoy limitless spending during next elections. The changes must now go through the Senate for another round of approval before the president gives assent to them.

There were claims that some MPs had been assaulted by their colleagues, with some showing their wounds during press conferences called by both Jubilee and Cord. However, the media was barred from covering part of the acrimonious session while the traditional live coverage of the proceedings was switched off, a move that was roundly condemned by Catholic Bishops.

“The act of media blackout set a bad precedent ahead of the 2017 General Election,” the said the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in a statement signed by Bishop Cornelius Korir.

On Wednesday, Cord leader Raila Odinga had warned that there will be no elections if the changes are forced through Parliament. On Thursday, he said that other countries, such as India, Nigeria and Ghana had used electronic gadgets in their elections successfully and there was no reason why Kenya could not do the same. He said the clause on manual voter identification would give room for dead voters to cast their ballots and rig the elections in favour of Jubilee. He and other Cord leaders said they would not legitimise a flawed election.

WALKED OUT

At Parliament Buildings, Cord MPs walked out of the debate session, claiming that their colleagues from Jubilee had carried guns to the chamber and that some had assaulted them. Others claimed that they had been harassed by security officers.

Jubilee MPs later claimed that their own colleagues were also assaulted in a session that was blacked out of the media for the first half hour.

Parliamentary sources told the Nation no weapons were allowed in although they admitted that there had been a scuffle among MPs.

“We want to abhor and condemn in the strongest terms possible, the assault on the parliamentary democracy in our country. The Speaker of Parliament was escorted to the chamber by armed policemen not numbering less than 50,” Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula told journalists at Parliament, where he was accompanied by about 60 MPs who had walked out of the Chamber.

“Our members have harrowing stories from the House where members are carrying guns into the Chamber.”
As the opposition lamented about the situation in Parliament, Jubilee MPs passed the amendments with gusto. They endorsed the changes suggested by Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Samuel Chepkonga and House Majority Leader Aden Duale.

“Cord seems to have sensed defeat and now want an excuse to cause chaos. The intention is to insist on electronic system so that when it fails they demand for a nusu mkate (coalition) government,” Dagoretti North MP Dennis Waweru claimed.

START PREPARING

Mr Duale accused Cord of “believing in the culture of violence” and challenged them to start preparing for elections or be defeated again.

“Kenyans will go to the polls in 2017, Raila Odinga apende asipende (whether Raila Odinga likes it or not,” Mr Duale told journalists outside the House, flanked by Jubilee MPs after passing the amendments.

When the session started at 9.30 am, journalists became a target after the switch-off of the live broadcast of the proceedings at the media centre in Parliament Buildings.

There were unusually mean-looking security men who denied them access to the press gallery.
At one point, NTV’s Kennedy Muriithi had his phone confiscated and a video he had taken of MPs being frisked by armed policemen before entering the chamber was deleted.
At 10.43am, Mr Duale walked out of the House with Jubilee MPs and said that he will move in January 24 when the House resumes, to discuss Mr Justice George Odunga.

 Cord, which had demanded consultations first, termed the new move part of a scheme “to allow dead voters to vote” by allowing ballot stuffing.
In 2013, the electronic voter identifying gadgets largely failed, and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission resorted to manual registers.