Pushing on with new laws won't unlock poll stalemate

Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was tabled in Parliament on Thursday 

A casual look at the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday reveals a government side keen to use its majority in Parliament to push through amendments that at best favour it and at the worst, are short-term.

The lack of input and consensus from across the board has heightened the feeling that the new laws will make elections less free and less fair. The timing is suspect coming hot on the heels of the Supreme Court's nullification of the August 8 presidential elections.

They say, the worst of times often bring out the best in us. That can hardly be said of President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and the top leadership of the Jubilee Party. They have gone at it hammer and tongs.

Their display of raw anger characterised by use of unsavoury language against judges of the Supreme Court portrays a streak of intolerance that borders on abuse of office. The Leader of Majority Aden Duale even threatened to rally Jubilee’s MPs in Parliament to fix the Judiciary.

Perhaps after the stark realization that that was easier said than done, Jubilee Party hawks have gone for the hapless IEBC similarly accused by its opponents NASA, of abetting electoral fraud. The import of the proposals by Jubilee is that simple processes overlooked by election officials led to the nullification of Mr Kenyatta’s win rather than actual disenfranchisement and vote theft.

Be it as it may, the political climate is hardly conducive for reasoned deliberations on vital motions; all the more reason why Jubilee should tread with utmost caution. Indeed, resolving outstanding issues over the October 26 elections should take priority rather than amendments that are by all intents and purposes, self-serving.

Jubilee's move risks being a case of cutting the nose to spite the face as happened to former President Mwai Kibaki and former Attorney General Charles Njonjo in 1982. Njonjo and Kibaki moved a law that effectively left Kanu as the only party, only to find themselves party-less after they were expelled from the independence party.

The lesson is that the bigger picture counts most and that it should not always be about Jubilee or NASA, but about all Kenyans; present and future.