Uhuru asks Nasa to support change of electoral laws

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto have defended the contentious changes to the electoral laws that have been proposed by Jubilee, arguing that they are meant to prevent a repeat of mistakes that were pointed out by the Supreme Court when it annulled the August 8 presidential election.

Speaking during campaigns in Busia and Bungoma counties, the President said the changes will ensure that the electoral law guarantees transparency by curbing any form of malpractice.

“We are seeking to ensure officials who refuse to sign forms are punished for it. What is wrong with that?” the President posed at a rally in Busia on Friday.

“We want them to go to jail for five years if they refuse to do their job. Aren’t these the things our opponents complained about?

"My opponents have insulted me, by saying my win was computer-generated. Now we are saying the transmission should be through manual forms.”

DEVELOPMENT
Jubilee Party has proposed changes to the electoral laws in the run up to the October 26 fresh presidential poll.

They have argued that existing ones have gaps, which must be filled before the election.

In Busia, the President officially welcomed former Funyula MP Paul Otuoma to his camp.

During the rally, the Jubilee leaders defended their development record as they sought to consolidate their votes and hunt for more in the two counties ahead of the repeat election.

VOTERS
In the nullified election results, Jubilee got 35,000 votes, an increase from 2013 when it got about 8,000 votes.

Mr Ruto accused Nasa leaders of playing games with Kenyans because they did not want to participate in the election, and appealed to the locals to vote for Jubilee, saying they had already initiated projects to improve their lives.

He listed the renovations at Busia Referral Hospital and Kocholia Hospital, the construction of Malaba-Busia, Matayos-Sio Port ring road and the proposed Alupe University as some of their achievements.

PROTESTS
In Bungoma, where the President and his deputy attended a home coming ceremony for Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka at Pan Paper Stadium, Mr Kenyatta dismissed Nasa’s opposition to the laws, saying they should help improve them in Parliament instead of going to the streets.

“Instead of my competitor Raila Odinga telling his MPs to go to Parliament and debate these proposed amendments to the electoral law, he is busy taking them to the streets to demonstrate against one person that is Ezra Chiloba, the IEBC CEO,” President Kenyatta said.

“When we were told to repeat the election some of us were bitter but we later said that we will respect the Supreme Court decision by going back to Kenyans to seek for votes.

"And all we are saying is that the proposed Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2017 is in respect to the Supreme Court decision that polls conform with the Constitution,” he added.

IEBC
The President insisted that the electoral body should be allowed to oversee the fresh presidential polls.

He asked Bungoma residents to come out in large numbers and vote for him on October 26 as a sign of gratefulness following the election of Mr Lusaka as the Senate Speaker.

Reported by Aggrey Mutambo, Gaitano Pessa, Dennis Lubanga, and Titus Oteba