The Chief Executive Officer at the CORD Secretariat, Norman Magaya said the coalition will hold two demonstrations on Monday and Thursday/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 10 – Hours after efforts appeared to flounder over the formation of a Joint Select Committee on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), CORD has declared that it is back on the streets next week.
The Chief Executive Officer at the CORD Secretariat, Norman Magaya said the coalition will hold two demonstrations on Monday and Thursday.
“We hereby notify you of the peaceful demonstrations on Monday 13 June and Thursday 16 June 2016 to express our displeasure and call for the overhaul of IEBC ahead of the next election,” Magaya stated in a notification to the County Police Commissioner.
The party pledged that the demonstrations would be peaceful explaining that it had put measures to ensure demonstrators maintain peace during the protests.
The announcement came when all hopes to end the standoff were on the deliberations intended to establish a Joint Select Committee to discuss issues raised about IEBC.
On Thursday, Jubilee nominated 11 members to represent the coalition in the deliberations.
But CORD insisted on formation of a four-member panel to iron out outstanding issues before formation of the Joint Select Committee.
Jubilee in a rejoinder said it was not aware of the agreement of the four-member committee.
Following crucial meetings held on Thursday, Jubilee agreed to cut down its 11 members to seven as sought by CORD.
They also agreed that the joint committee should complete negotiations on IEBC within one month.
However, they disagreed on several other issues including inclusion of non-parliamentarians in the committee and approval of nominees by Parliament.
READ: Jubilee willing to trim 11 member team to strike accord with CORD
CORD’s announcement on Friday also clashed with the government’s order banning the party from holding any protests following the last demonstration that claimed two lives and left scores of others injured.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery on Tuesday warned that any person who will contravene the directive will face the full force of the law.
READ: Govt bans CORD protests ‘to protect life, property’
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday while speaking during his Machakos tour however said CORD was free to hold demonstrations as long as they were peaceful and free of criminal activities.
Different players including religious leaders, private sector, the international community and sections of the political class especially the governors have continuously urged CORD and Jubilee to dialogue and resolve the IEBC tussle.
Whereas demonstrations are allowed in the law, there have been concerns that the CORD protests conducted in the month of May were mostly violent and had aspects of criminalities that led to destruction and deaths.
Five people have lost lives while property worth millions of shillings was destroyed during the four demonstrations held in May.
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