Raila insists IEBC officials must go

Kakamega: CORD leader Raila Odinga says the electoral commission must be reformed before next year's General Election.

Addressing a youth empowerment summit Saturday at Masinde Muliro University in Kakamega, Raila said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had failed to live up to the expectations of Kenyans.

"As we approach 2017 elections, we must have a neutral referee who will oversee a credible election," he said.

The former Prime Minister said the Jubilee administration has failed to deliver on its pledges. He said the conduct of the 2013 elections was questionable.

He said he would be willing to concede if he loses fairly to Jubilee, but added only an independent referee could guarantee a credible poll.

"But I will not agree to a situation where the referee puts on uniform of the rival team," Raila said.

He steered clear of CORD's weekly demonstrations to push the IEBC commissioners out of office. Instead, he told youths to shun negative ethnicity and promote national integration.

"Just like sportsmen will exchange pleasantries after a football match so should our youth behave in order to promote positive ethnicity," he said.

Raila, at the same time, faulted the Jubilee administration over what he termed as rampant corruption that has scared away investors.

"The moment the environment is not conducive in Kenya, we are chasing away investors," he said and urged the government to change its approach towards dealing with corruption.

He said even tourists are asked to part with "kitu kidogo" when they book hotels, a scenario he said underscores the extent to which the country has suffered due to corruption.

The ODM leader said a responsible leadership is one that will put in place an enabling political environment and provide a level playground to address real issues affecting the people.

He said impunity will not make Kenya succeed economically. Raila accused the government of reneging on devolving the Youth affairs function so that it can steal billions of shillings earmarked for youth programmes. He cited the mega scandal that rocked the National Youth Service.

"Youths are a valuable resource if empowered, but can also be a curse to the nation if abandoned, since this will turn them into bad citizens," he said.

He said while Kenya has been lagging behind economically in the 53 years of independence.

"We must find out where the rains started beating us as a country," the ODM leader added.

The CORD leader said Japan, which does not have any mineral or fertile land to support agriculture, has emerged one of biggest world economies, while Kenya is trailing, despite being endowed with enormous resources.

"We must tap into the human resource we have to grow our economy and that calls for heavy investment in the younger generation," he said.

Raila said Kenya will only realise economic growth again if the government gets committed to transforming and uniting Kenyans.

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said his government had invested heavily in youth programmes to enable young people them become self-reliant and responsible citizens.