CORD to sue IEBC over omission of Mutula Kilonzo Junior’s name on ballot

By Moses Njagi

NAIROBI, KENYA: A new twist has emerged in the race for Makueni Senate by-election after it emerged that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) printed ballot papers without the name of Wiper party candidate Mutula Kilonzo Junior.

CORD has threatened to move to court over the matter and is against suggestions by IEBC that they will paste Mutula Jnr details on the ballot papers.

Cord legislators castigated the IEBC over the anomaly, saying they should be reprimanded by court for disobeying its orders.

 “After the court’s ruling last Friday, we did all that was required of us to do under the short notice. We abided by the court’s orders and we wonder why IEBC did not heed to the decisions made,” complained Wiper Party Chairman Musila who is also the Kitui Senator.

Musila, who led over 20 legislators in protesting a proposal by IEBC that it pastes the details of Jnr in the 300,000 ballot papers, said there was a concerted efforts to lock out the late Mutula Kilonzo’s family and the Cord coalition from the Makueni race.

He said they had turned down the IEBC proposal and urged it to re-print new papers in readiness for the Friday’s by-elections.

He said that due to time constraints, the commission could even result to local printing of the ballot papers, a move that however could compromise the security of the papers as they would lack key security features.

 “It is not a must that the ballot papers be printed in London. Other countries do not print theirs there. We can do that work locally,” said Musila.

He added: “We are continuously being frustrated so that we do not participate in the by-elections and we will not bow down. We will however not allow the commission to subject us to a messy exercise with the potential of having the ballots rejected,” he said.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale who joined the Cord Senators and MPs warned that proceeding with the by-election with the anomalies on the ballot, was tantamount to preparing the country for another contest.

“That would be a very strong ground for an election petition. Already we have some pending petitions in court where the elections were challenged on this basis,” he cautioned.

 Wiper Nominated Senator Judith Sijeny, who represented the party in the proceedings where the court ordered IEBC to include the party’s candidate in the race said that the electoral body had before the last week’s hearings undertaken to ensure that their candidate would be in the ballot if the court ordered so.

 “We wanted to seek orders stopping further preparations by IEBC for the by-elections, but they gave us an undertaking that if Kethi was to be allowed to contest, her name would be in the ballot,” she said.

 Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar said with the recent technology developments, it was not impossible for the IEBC to change the specifics on the ballot after the ruling on Friday.

 “The commission is already facing credibility challenges and its getting hit every other time.it should not invite further condemnation that would justify calls for its disbandment,” warned Omar.

Musila said that Cord coalition will continue with its preparations for the by-elections even as they await the matter to be settled.