Another SHOWDOWN looms as MPs summoned to review election laws

Another SHOWDOWN looms as MPs summoned to review election laws

Just a day after the National Assembly Special sitting ended pre-maturely following a standoff between members of the ruling Jubilee Party and the opposition Coalition for Reforms  and Democracy (CORD) over the proposed review of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016, Speaker Justin Muturi has convened yet another sitting to debate the same.

The opposition legislators accused their Jubilee counterparts  of trying to mutilate the election laws to re-introduce manual system of voting and vote transmission as an alternative, should technology-based voting and vote transmission fail.

During Tuesday’s confrontations, a section of CORD legislators barricaded the entrance to the National Assembly Chambers in a bid to block Speaker Muturi from accessing the chambers.

The CORD legislators argued that the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016 as passed was a negotiated document and was adapted after the opposition and the ruling faction agreed to adopt it without making further amendments.

On Monday, CORD leader, Raila Odinga, said the plan by the ruling coalition to change the law was a plan to rig the 2017 elections in favour of the incumbent, President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Together with the Amani National Congress (ANC) leader, Musalia Mudavadi, the two leaders asked MPs allied to their coalitions not to allow the passage of the amendments.

Over a week ago, the Jubilee party, led by National Assembly Majority Leader, Aden Duale, accused Odinga of planning to use technology through a Mr Michael Yard to force a regime change.

Mr Yard is the Global Chief of Party at IFES, a non-governmental body that specializes in voter education.

On Monday, December 19, the government banned IFES from conducting any form of civic education and further stopping USAID from funding such activities, a move that attracted condemnation from the U.S.

On Wednesday, December 21, Speaker Muturi, through a Special Gazette Notice, summoned MPs for a special sitting on Thursday, December 22 to discuss the contested amendments to the electoral laws.

The sitting, just like the Tuesday one, might turn chaotic with the opposition legislators remaining adamant that they will not allow any amendments to the election laws.

Tags:

CORD raila odinga JUBILEE President Uhuru Kenyatta 2016 Election Laws (Amendment) Act Another SHOWDOWN looms as MPs summoned to review election laws Coalition for Reforms and Democracy

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