Anti-IEBC protests will continue as planned, declares Raila Odinga

Core principals of CORD Raila Odinga, Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka and other Okoa Kenya leaders join church leaders as they addressed the media after a closed door meeting at the ODM offices Capitol Centre, Upper Hill Nairobi yesterday, on 17/05/16 PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has dismissed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s call to stop public protests against the electoral body in favour of a parliamentary process.

Speaking to The Standard on Saturday from South Africa, Raila said he had tried the parliamentary route to kick out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chiefs, but it had been blocked.

He said there must be a political deal on how the commissioners will leave office before the next year General Election, and that deal would then be made into law.

He said: “This is a political process and must be negotiated among parties involved, including those outside Parliament. Parliament is the final stage in terms of legislation, otherwise why does the Cabinet approve budget before it is brought before Parliament?”

He said the standoff requires a “bipartisan approach” in coming up with a Bill which must be negotiated before being taken to Parliament.

“The Jubilee coalition is missing the point that laws can only be made in Parliament. That is the final stage in the process of making the law but the process must be negotiated. In 1997 we did Inter-Parties Paliamentary Group (IPPG). There was negotiation among parties before it was taken to Parliament. Parliament implements political agenda which must come from political parties,” said Raila.

He was responding to Uhuru’s remarks on Thursday that he would not allow anybody to breach the Constitution, which he swore to defend, in disbanding IEBC.

“I took an oath to defend the Constitution and will not break the law nor allow others to do so. We cannot agree to that which is against the law and our Constitution just to please a few individuals,” said Uhuru in Mandera.

But Raila is adamant that they would not seek the petition route after the Opposition’s initial attempt was rejected by the National Assembly. The ODM party leader accused President Kenyatta of dishonesty in telling CORD to follow the Constitution when he knows that Jubilee MPs rejected a petition by Wafula Buke seeking the disbandment of the commission.

He said their second attempt to reconstitute the commission through a referendum was also frustrated after the Jubilee coalition allegedly colluded with IEBC to reject signatures presented by CORD to kick off a referendum through popular initiative.

Political deal

Raila, who said he would be back in the country for the Monday anti-IEBC protest, said the argument by Jubilee that it was him and the retired President Mwai Kibaki who picked the commissioners was neither “here nor there”.

He said when the officials were appointed there was no Chickengate scandal and Parliament’s Public Account Committee (PAC) report that has adversely mentioned some commissioners for the loss of Sh4 billion through fraudulent procurement.

On their part, IEBC through its chairman Issack Hassan has made it clear that the commissioners would only exit after a political deal and due process of the law.

In the absence of such a politically negotiated deal, the IEBC chair has said, those pushing for the exit of commissioners must follow the constitutionally stipulated procedure.

But ODM Chairman John Mbadi and Amani National Congress’ Godfrey Osotsi said the constitutional route is not an option at the moment since elections are only 14 months away.

Mbadi argues that Jubilee MPs would use their tyranny of numbers in Parliament to shoot down the Bill, alleging that the majority MPs already have a deal with IEBC.

“It is clear Jubilee is reluctant to remove the commission the way they did with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) commissioners. This is because they have a deal with them to influence the outcome of the elections,” he said.

“Everybody wants IEBC to go home. All political parties, apart from Jubilee, have made it clear that the commission must go,” said Mbadi.

Mr Osotsi said confining the discussions on the electoral reforms in Parliament would lock out political parties without representation in Parliament. He said time constraints would not allow for the process to go through and still have the elections in August 2017.

But the Jubilee leaders have insisted that CORD must follow the legal procedure to remove IEBC commissioners.

Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso and Baringo North MP William Cheptumo, also member of Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, said the Coalition should use the legal framework available in removing IEBC, the same way EACC was removed.

She further rubbished claims by CORD that Jubilee was determined to protect the commission so as to help them manipulate the next polls.