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Why IEBC called off talks with Jubilee-Nasa leaders

By SAMWEL OWINO September 21st, 2017 2 min read

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has rescheduled, for the third time, a planned meeting with Nasa and Jubilee leaders.

A similar joint meeting aborted on Tuesday last week after the Jubilee team, led by Deputy President William Ruto, arrived one-and-a-half hours late.

Nasa leaders led by Raila Odinga, who had waited for 50 minutes at Anniversary Towers, walked out of the meeting, protesting at the Jubilee leaders’ lateness.

While communicating on the cancellation, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission  (IEBC) said it was agreed among the three that the talks be suspended to allow the parties to consider issues arising from the detailed judgment delivered on Wednesday by the Supreme Court on the nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election.

FRESH POLL

“Following consultations and by consensus, it was agreed that the joint consultative meeting that IEBC, Nasa and Jubilee were to hold this afternoon (Wednesday) at Bomas be postponed. The ruling will inform discussions on preparations for the fresh poll,” said IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.

The meeting was to bring together the parties to agree on some issues that have emerged as far as preparation of the October 17 repeat presidential poll is concerned.

Nasa has maintained that it will not participate in the fresh election until various changes are made in the commission, to provide a level playing field for the candidates.

The opposition has demanded the sacking of commission CEO Ezra Chiloba as well as 10 other officials before the fresh poll.

RIGGING

The team has also demanded the sacking of returning officers implicated in what it alleges was massive rigging, and the change of the Dubai-based Al-Ghurair as the printer of the presidential election ballot papers.

On Sunday, French firm OT-Morpho submitted to IEBC a six-page report in which it detailed how long it will take to reconfigure the 45,000 kits for the fresh election.

The kits will have to be configured with the names of the top two presidential candidates only, after the other six were locked out of the election.

However, President Kenyatta on Tuesday insisted that the fresh election must be held within the 60-day period set out in the Constitution.