ANXIETY as Senators summoned for special sitting on ELECTORAL LAWS

A major showdown is expected in the Senate next week after Speaker Ekwee Ethuro summoned the legislators for a Special Sitting to debate the amendments made to the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015 by the National Assembly.

In a Special Gazette Notice dated Friday, December 23, 2016, Speaker Ethuro said the decision had already received the backing of 15 Senators.

“Notice is given to all Senators that pursuant to Standing Order 29 of the Senate Standing Orders, on the request of the Senate Majority Leader, and with the support of fifteen Senators, I have appointed Wednesday, 28^th December, 2016 as a day for a special sitting of the Senate,” read the Gazette Notice in part.

“The special sitting shall be held in the Senate Chamber, Ground Floor, Main Parliament Buildings, Nairobi at 10:00 am.”

The business to be transacted, according to the Gazette Notice, include: “The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (National Assembly Bills No. 3 of 2015).

On Thursday, December 22, Members of the National Assembly allied to the Jubilee Coalition passed amendments to the electoral laws in a vote boycotted by the opposition.

The Special Sitting of the Senate might turn chaotic like in the National Assembly where MPs allied to the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) disrupted a similar sitting accusing the ruling coalition of trying to amend the electoral laws with an aim of rigging the 2017 elections.

On Thursday, the opposition MPs stormed out of the second Special Siting that was convened by National Assembly Speaker, Justin Muturi, accusing Jubilee of using police to harass and intimidate them.

They marched to Milimani Law Courts where they have filed a petition to reverse the amendments already passed by their Jubilee counterparts.

The changes made to the electoral laws, if assented to by the President, will see the manual system of voter identification and transmission of election results reinstated, an amendment the CORD faction has opposed vehemently.

While appearing on Citizen TV for an interview on Thursday evening, opposition leader Raila Odinga said the amendments by the government side were a ploy to rig the August 8, 2017 General Election.

Odinga said that the law was a product of a negotiated process and Jubilee ought to have consulted them (opposition) before making any changes.

On Wednesday, Deputy President William Ruto said that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) made a request for the electoral laws to be amended in order to create an alternative mechanism for voter identification and election results transmission in cases where the electronic system fails.

The amendments have thrown the relative political peace being enjoyed in the country into disarray with the opposition now calling for mass action on January 4, 2017.

Francis Gachuri contributed to this report