Senator Khalwale rubbishes IEBC-gov’t deal

Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale has rubbished a deal entered by the government and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners on their exit package.

Speaking in Kakamega on Saturday, the Ford Kenya deputy party leader said that the deal, which would see IEBC commissioners stay in office past their September 30^th deadline is null and void and insisted that the commissioners vacate office as soon as possible.

“The new committee that was tasked with negotiation IEBC commissioners exit package has given themselves unconstitutional mandate to extend the commissioners’ stay in office until November 25, 2016.

“This is a plot by Jubilee to use the commissioners to rig the 2017 elections, something that we will not allow.”

The Government’s Technical Negotiating Committee met the nine IEBC commissioners on Friday to agree on a deal that would see the commissioners leave office.

It was agreed during the meeting that the current commissioners would not leave office until new commissioners are sworn in in an apparent effort to avoid creating a constitutional crisis.

State House Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua said that the decision was reached after much consideration of both parties in the negotiation, public interests and legal and constitutional demands.

The decision, Kinyua said, was also guided but the contract of appointment for the commissioners and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

IEBC chair Issack Hassan said that their extended stay in office would not in any way jeopardise preparations for a free and fair 2017 election, adding that as commissioners they are determined to ensure a smooth transition.

“We reiterate our position that the current commissioners are not a stumbling block in the preparation of the next General Election. The speedy outcome of these negotiations is an attestation to this commitment,” stated Hassan in the statement.

The push to have the commissioner leave office was fronted by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) who accused the Issack Hassan-led team of ineptitude to hold a free and fair election in 2017.

CORD leader Raila Odinga had accused Hassan and his team of planning to rig the elections in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta in exchange for government jobs upon the end of their term at the end of next year.

Raila also linked some of the commissioners to the Chicken Gate Scandal involving irregular allocation of tender to a UK firm for the printing of ballot papers.

A Joint Parliamentary Select Committee, comprising of legislators from CORD and Jubilee, formed to discuss electoral reforms and a means to end CORD’s month-long protests, had set September 30, as the deadline for the current commissioners to vacate office.

Delays in the negotiation of the commissioners’ exit package and delay in recruiting new commissioner has forced the extension of the term.

CORD leader Raila Odinga has given the current commissioners one-week to vacate office failure to which they which resume anti-IEBC protests to force them out.

@benjaminwafula