Nasa wants Chiloba out, Chebukati to stay
Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga addressing a political rally at Masinde Muliro grounds in Huruma, Nairobi on September 3, 2017. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL| NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Nasa also called for change of ballot printers and poll technology providers.
Last Friday, Mr Odinga named six IEBC officials who he accused of electoral malpractices.
Mr Musalia Mudavadi, also a co-principal, added Safran Morpho, the French-based firm that provided Kenya with the kits used to identify voters and transmit results, to the list of those to be kicked out.
Nasa on Sunday backed down on its calls to disband the entire electoral agency, instead narrowing down its focus to the Ezra Chiloba-led secretariat.
While the opposition had vilified the entire IEBC starting from its chairman Wafula Chebukati, the coalition on Sunday called for the sacking of Mr Chiloba and his team alone. Nasa also called for change of ballot printers and poll technology providers.
“Chiloba cannot manage our election again. We will not have an election managed by thieves because that will be like giving our goats to hyenas. They will eat them whole, and we cannot have that,” said Nasa leader Raila Odinga at Masinde Muliro Grounds in Huruma, Nairobi. His running mate Kalonzo Musyoka was more direct on what the team wants.
FRESH ELECTION
“We have not said we want Chebukati out. But we have told him not to go to this fresh election without cleaning his house. Sweep them out!” said Mr Musyoka. He added: “I do not hate Mr Chiloba, but he must go home. He did not give Kenyans justice.”
During Nasa’s last rally at Uhuru Park before the August 8 poll, Mr Musyoka had proclaimed that “Chebukati is okay, but Chiloba is not okay” to refer to what Mr Chiloba has several times dismissed as false — links to the Jubilee leadership.
IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi, on August 9. Nasa has now called for the sacking of Mr Chiloba and his secretariat. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Last Friday, Mr Odinga named six IEBC officials who he accused of electoral malpractices.
They include: Mr Chiloba, voter registration and electoral operations director Immaculate Kasait, head of legal department Praxedes Tororey, head of operations Betty Nyabuto and ICT director James Muhati and commissioner Yakob Guliye.
THREE DEMANDS
On Sunday, Nasa co-principal Moses Wetang’ula laid down three demands for the commission to meet before the fresh polls, including the firing of the six officials, sacking of all the 290 returning officers, and the dismissal of Dubai-based Al-Ghurair from the ballot printing tender.
Mr Musalia Mudavadi, also a co-principal, added Safran Morpho, the French-based firm that provided Kenya with the kits used to identify voters and transmit results, to the list of those to be kicked out.
“We want to hear from the French government: What are your ethical standards on a multinational from your country that is complicit in subverting democracy?” He asked. Mr Mudavadi.
