Opposition leaders walk out as talks collapse

NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga at a NASA parliamentary group meeting held at Wiper headquarters in Lavington Nairobi. [Wanson Emmanuel, Standard]

Opposition leaders Thursday walked out of a consultative meeting with the electoral commission in protest against proposed changes to the election laws.

National Super Alliance (NASA) chiefs said it was no longer tenable to participate in the talks as Jubilee Party had tabled in Parliament two bills seeking to amend election laws.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga said NASA would resume street protests next week to stop what he described as Jubilee’s plan to turn Kenya into a one-party State.

“All actions by the President and his deputy William Ruto show they want to turn Kenya into a dictatorship. We are calling for peaceful demonstrations throughout the country to resist the attempt to rig presidential elections in favour of Jubilee. Kenyans should stand up and tell Uhuru and Ruto that the country doesn’t belong to them,” said Raila at the Wiper party headquarters yesterday.

“You are aware that the talks between NASA, Jubilee and IEBC collapsed after Jubilee introduced new bills in Parliament to change electoral laws. We will resist the introduction of new laws. We will lead the people in fighting for their hard-earned democracy.”

Water down

Meanwhile, the NASA team at the Bomas of Kenya talks accused Jubilee of seeking to water down election laws and clip the powers of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman.

"They want to amend everything that was the basis of the Supreme Court verdict. Everything that went wrong in the last elections is being sanitised by the amendments,” said Siaya Senator James Orengo, who led the NASA team.

"This meeting with IEBC doesn't make any sense. This legislation is being driven in Parliament at a supersonic speed. We shall leave Jubilee to do whatever they wish and want, but they should be held responsible for what happens thereafter," said Mr Orengo, who was accompanied by lawyer Paul Mwangi and NASA secretariat boss Norman Magaya.

They claimed that the changes were also an attempt to put in place a "regime-friendly" commission. He singled out the clause that provides that any commissioner can act in the absence of the chairman and reduces the quorum from the required five to three.

Unspoken word

“You look at the unspoken word and the unspoken word is that Jubilee has in mind a regime-friendly commission that is ready to declare them (the winner). This regime wants the chairman (Wafula Chebukati) out of a job immediately. He is not even sure of his security. With this, October 26 will be just another day on the calendar and there will be no elections,” said Mr Magaya.

Jubilee denied the claims and accused the Opposition of creating bottlenecks at every stage to ensure that there will be no election, but warned that the repeat presidential poll must take place.

Senate Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki, who led the Jubilee side, said NASA was free to use Parliament or other avenues to address their concerns.

“Our friends in NASA were not interested in the meeting. They decided not to execute their agenda due to the bills. But elections must continue. The country cannot be in politics mode all the time. We will not allow one person or a section of Kenyans to intimidate or threaten the country,” he said.