President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party has questioned the electoral commission’s preparedness for the repeat presidential poll on October 17.
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale on Friday said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) must avoid sideshows and resolve its internal wrangles to prepare for the election.
Mr Duale told IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati to put “his house in order” adding they be provided with an urgent response on how ready the commission is.
SABOTAGE
Of great concern to Jubilee is the infighting in the commission, which is likely to sabotage the election preparedness.
Mr Duale said the wrangles should be resolved immediately to pave way for the polls.
“As a party we are not interested in the war between the chair, CEO and the secretariat. We require engagement with top Nasa and Jubilee leaders as often as possible and IEBC update us weekly on its preparedness of the election,” Mr Duale said.
He spoke at a press conference attended by Jubilee legislators from the National Assembly and the Senate.
RESPONSE
Jubilee has named nine staff in a new team named by Mr Chebukati to manage the fresh election as some of those involved in actions that showed they could not be trusted.
But despite Mr Chebukati rubbishing Jubilee’s claim in a letter and reiterating the commission is independent in its decision making, Mr Duale insisted that their concerns must be addressed expeditiously.
“We will be raising more concerns as we approach the new polls. We wrote a second letter before we briefly met the commission chair yesterday (Thursday) and we will wait for his response. However, we respect the independency of the commission,” he said.
The majority leader disclosed that IEBC would be meeting both Jubilee and Nasa next week to discuss contentious issues surrounding the repeat poll.
MEETING
On Thursday, separate meeting called by the commission flopped after both parties failed to agree to either turn up or walked out on the chairman.
Mr Duale reiterated for the elections preparedness effectiveness, joint meetings between the commission and political outfits must be held.
“The chair has promised to call the first meeting on Tuesday of Wednesday. We have also asked him to send the agenda beforehand which he has agreed,” said Mr Duale.
