Resign, we cant trust you with 2017 polls, CORD tells IEBC

Resign, we cant trust you with 2017 polls, CORD tells IEBC

Coalitions for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders have given Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners until Monday next week to resign, failure to which they will camp at the IEBC offices until their Okoa Kenya signatures get approved.

Led by CORD co-principals Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula, the Cord leaders said the IEBC cannot conduct a free and fair election in 2017.

Speaking during a CORD rally at Kamukunji grounds on Saturday afternoon, opposition called on Kenyans to join them in the march to IEBC’s offices on Monday.

Touching on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the leaders stated that the termination of Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua Sang case does not mean that justice was served.

The opposition leaders called for the implementation of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Comission (TJRC) report.

Raila pointed out that recommendation made by the Akiwumi Commission of Inquiry into Tribal Clashes, which was appointed in 1998,  have also not been implemented.

The former Prime Minister noted that Kenya has a history of poll violence, a trend that has been exacerbated by the fact that people have not been prosecuted for the violence.

CORD’s push for a referendum got a blow in March after the IEBC rejected the Okoa Kenya signatures on grounds that the signatures were below the threshold of one million votes required for a referendum.

The IEBC, during its 142nd Plenary Meeting held Tuesday, adopted the report on the verification of signatures of registered voters in support of the proposed constitutional amendment presented by OKOA Kenya Initiative.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010, Article 257(4) states: “The promoters of a popular initiative shall deliver the draft Bill and the supporting signatures to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which shall verify that the initiative is supported by at least one million registered voters.”

“The analysis of the data presented by the OKOA Kenya popular initiative has shown that that the number of valid registered voters supporting the initiative is 891,598. This falls short of the one million registered voters required by law,” said IEBC.

“Therefore, the Commission wishes to declare that the OKOA Kenya proposal to amend the constitution initiative has collapsed by operation of the law.”

In late March 2016, the IEBC clarified grounds upon which some of the Okoa Kenya signatures were rejected.

In a statement signed by IEBC Communications Manager Tabitha Mutemi, the commission clarified that it did not verify the authenticity of the signatures presented by CORD to back their Okoa Kenya referendum bid, but instead cross-checked them against the voters’ register.

“The Commission did not reject a single signature because of its structure or formation. The records that were rejected were those that were not found in the voters register. Some records had signatures but without ID or passport numbers while others had just names and no other entries,” read the statement in part.

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CORD kenya IEBC raila odinga kalonzo musyoka Moses Wetangula Okoa Kenya

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