NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 11 – Members of Parliament in the Delegated Legislation Committee of the National Assembly have faulted the move by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to gazette campaign financing limits saying that it was done outside the stipulated timelines.
Speaking during a heated committee meeting with IEBC officials led by Chairperson Wafula Chebukati on Wednesday the MPs Charles Njagagua (Mbeere North), Oundo Ojiambo (Funyala) and George Muragara (Tharaka) accused the electoral agency of portraying Parliament as the stumbling block in the enactment of the crucial guidelines which should be in place a year before the general election.
“You are with your lawyers here and they are clear that nothing can be published before they come before Parliament of approval but anyhow you went ahead to spend public money to make gazettement with approval so for all those who would care to know is that IEBC has done its job and the people who are not doing anything is Parliament,” Committee Vice-Chairperson Njagagua said.
“IEBC are in a corner and it could be either be mischief, maybe a lapse, oversight or whatever it is,” Laikipia East MP Patrick Mariru said.
Gichugu MP Robert Gichimu faulted the commission over what he termed as a deliberate move to target lawmakers.
“Parliament has become a punching bag for the faults of even other institutions, like what I am seeing in this regulations, is trying to pass the buck to Parliament,” he said.
Chebukati and IEBC Political Parties and Campaign Financing Manager Salome Oyugi fended off claims that the limits were out of time but argued they were hoping for the existing law to be amended.
“The regulations which we published in 2016 actually touch on the spending limits. It defines how the procedure should be done. But what the Commission believes is that the limits don’t form part of those regulations. Therefore the Commission was of the view that we can proceed to gazette the limits as much as the regulations are waiting to be tabled in the House,” Chebukati explained.
MPs Dan Maanzo (Makueni) and Martha Wangare (Gilgil) insisted that only Parliament can enact penalties as provided for under the statutory instruments law.
The Committee will on Friday hold a retreat to decide the fate of the campaign financing limits through which the IEBC reduced spending by presidential candidates from Sh5.2 billion to Sh4.4 billion.
