MP says CORD’s MASS ACTION recipe for chaos

Kigumo Member of Parliament, Jamleck Kamau, has accused the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader, Raila Odinga, for causing anxiety in the country by threatening to call for mass action over the amended electoral laws.

Kamau said that the mass action plan by the opposition, CORD, reminds Kenyans of the 2007/08 Post Election Violence where over 1,300 people lost their lives and over 600,000 others displaced from their homes.

Late December last year, CORD threatened to call for mass action if the ruling Jubilee administration does not abandon the changes it instituted to the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015.

The amendments, which were instituted by the National Assembly, were last week rubberstamped by the Senate after the Upper House voted in favour of the changes.

However, the opposition faulted Senate Speaker, Ekwee Ethuro, of rigging the Senate vote in favour of Jubilee.

The law, which re-introduces manual identification of voters and transmission of election results in cases where the electronic system fails, now awaits President Uhuru Kenyatta’s assent.

Appearing on an interview on Citizen TV last year, Deputy President William Ruto said that the amendments were as a request by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) which is mandated to implement the electoral laws.

Ruto said that IEBC had looked at the law and found several loopholes that would compromise the August 8, 2017 elections if not sealed.

The opposition has, however, read mischief in whole process and suspects that the government intends to use the manual back system to steal the election.

Upon upholding the amendments by the Senate, the opposition CORD called on its leaders and aspirants to converge in Nairobi on Wednesday, January 11 to forge the way forward.

The Kigumo Legislator has cautioned CORD over the protests saying that it would be very unfortunate if violence erupts during the election year.

“They started calling for protests in 2007 and people lost lives. All Kenyans want is to be given a chance to vie for their seats of choice and to elect their favourite leaders peacefully,” Kamau said.