Aden Duale says IEBC reforms on course

Jubilee and CORD will nominate two members each to the panel that will nominate new electoral agency commissioners.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, who spoke in Mombasa Sunday, said Jubilee will pick its members Tuesday.

He said electoral reforms are on course and that they will ensure the new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) bosses are recruited transparently.

"We are determined to ensure the current commissioners leave office by October 4 (Tuesday), the date the law says they must exit," said Duale.

He added: "President Uhuru Kenyatta will then name the selection panel. And the Opposition should prepare for defeat in the 2017 poll because IEBC does not vote, it is the masses that vote."

The panel will identify the names and send them to the President who will forward the same to Parliament for approval.

Duale also used the Somali Youth Forum Social and Cultural Engagement event to back Abdi Daib as the Jubilee candidate for the Changamwe parliamentary seat currently held by ODM's Omar Mwinyi.

He was accompanied by MPs Hassan Yussuf (Kamukunji), Abdulaziz Farah (Mandera East), Mohamed Mohamud (Mandera West) Ibrahim Saney (Wajir North) and nominated MP Abdi Noor.

Duale claimed ODM leader Raila Odinga had abandoned Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang'ula and wants to take Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho as his running mate in next year's elections.

"Why has he (Raila) left Kalonzo who commands well over 1.5 million votes from eastern region and Wetang'ula who can bring in substantial votes from western Kenya? Joho will not bring in anything," he said.

Duale called on the Somali community to support President Kenyatta'a re-election bid.

Meanwhile, State House says the process of reconstituting the electoral body is still within the set timelines.

Tomorrow is the date when the law paving way for the exit of the current electoral commissioners' comes into force, but State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said President Kenyatta will only speak out if the law is not followed.

"The President cannot get involved in matters that are still within the timelines of the law," said Esipisu.

By September 26 last week, the IEBC commissioners, led by Chairman Issack Hassan, said they had not been engaged by the Attorney General or the Salaries and Remuneration Commission on their send-off package.

Hassan told Senate's Public Accounts and Investment Committee that the Electoral Amendment law does not give modalities on how the commissioners should leave office.

The law states IEBC should have seven commissioners from the current nine, which means if a deal is not reached by tomorrow, the Government will be paying salaries for two more commissioners.

A meeting headed by the Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua last Friday is said to have reached a deal on their sendoff package expected to be made official today.

A tentative proposal is that they will be paid 31 per cent of their salaries as gratuity for the five years they would have been in office. A commissioner earns about Sh1.2 million.

And Sunday, during a press briefing, Esipisu said: "Kenya is a law-abiding country and no amount of anxiety can hasten the processes that are already underway."