NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 15 – The contentious Elections Amendment Bill which has stirred heated debate among political players is set to be formally introduced in the National Assembly during Tuesday afternoon’s sitting.
The Bill which is sponsored by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and seeks to have alternative methods being deployed to relay results during the August 9 polls, has received criticism from opposing political camps.
House Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) Vice-Chairman Tom Kajwang pledged sobriety even as the team is set to collect views from stakeholders and members of the Public.
“I have been hearing debates out there that there are proposals to remove transmissions of results, whether digital or manual but that will surprise even us because it is not within the scope of the advisory that this Committee gave,” he said while explaining that the debate should be guided by facts.
The Ruaraka MP explained that the draft law came about as a result of the meeting between the Committee and IEBC on how to actualize the various court decisions delivered from the last general elections in which various sections of law may have been declared unconstitutional.
“IEBC will come before us again and if anything in that Bill which was not as contemplated by this Committee, we will subject them again to the same rigorous process that we have subjected other Bills to.” he said.
Kajwang cautioned his colleagues in Parliament against making statements that are likely to heighten public mood in the run up to the August 9 General Election.
“As we are concerned, when we will debate it, we are expecting that there must be accountability and an election which is justifiable, verifiable in terms of transmission of result,” he said.
Suna East MP Junet Mohammed, who doubles up as the Minority Whip in the National Assembly, said the proposal will create room for irregularities.
Deputy President William Ruto and his allies have equally raised the red flag over plans to review election-related laws touching on transmission and declaration of poll results saying the move is part of a plan to rig the forthcoming elections.
The polls agency chairman Wafula Chebukati issued a statement in which it dismissed, as false, reports indicating that the draft law seeks to ban live streaming of elections results and replace it with a manual method that was used in 2007.
He clarified that the Bill proposes a complementary mechanism for result transmission to address instances where transmission of results is not possible owing to the lack of 3G network which is the minimum standard required for transmission of results’ form.
“The Bill seeks to align with the Case Law in which the court held and decreed that election results are what is contained in the election results declaration form (34A Series) which is the primary document and final result recorded at the polling station,” he said.
Chebukati stated that the Commission is required to verify the results by comparing the original physical form 34A and the image of the result declaration form as transmitted from the polling station.
