The opposition has claimed that President William Ruto and his government are orchestrating an early plot to rig the 2027 polls in their favour.
Led by Kalonzo Musyoka, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition faction that remains opposed to Ruto told the country that the plans to manipulate the polls are in high gear.
The former vice president posed that the government is willfully refusing to reconstitute the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as part of the plot to remain unchallenged.
While speaking during a press briefing at the Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (SKM) Command Center, Kalonzo claimed that the current Kenya Kwanza regime was aiming to disrupt the election process through the delayed reconstitution of the IEBC.
The IEBC team at the Bomas of Kenya during the tallying of the 2022 general elections.
Photo
VOA
“Kenya Kwanza is preparing to undermine the people’s sovereign authority and manipulate the next election,” Kalonzo claimed.
“The Bill (Elections (Amendment) Bill 2024) in the Senate to stop the live streaming of election results is one way of stealing the coming elections,” he added.
Key amongst proponents of the Bill is that election officials will be mandated to electronically transmit results to the national tallying centre within two hours of their declaration at polling stations and constituency tallying centres.
Currently, the electoral law states that the presidential results must be tallied at all polling stations and published on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) official website to allow Kenyans to access real-time results through live streaming at the national tallying centre.
The former vice president made these remarks while calling for the implementation of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) Report that set guidelines for the IEBC reconstitution and selection of its commissioners.
Kalonzo went on to express his concern with the lack of adherence to constitutional timelines concerning boundary delimitation and the reconstitution of its members.
The Constitution under Article 89(2) provides, “The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission shall review the names and boundaries of constituencies at intervals of not less than eight years and not more than twelve years, but any review shall be completed at least twelve months before a general election of members of Parliament.”
Kalonzo’s concern stemmed from the fact that the timeline for this review elapsed in March 2024 amidst the lack of an IEBC body of commissioners
“The regime is already breaching the Constitution by failing to meet constitutional deadlines for boundary delimitation. We are already facing a constitutional crisis,” he posed.
Kalonzo further accused the government of faulting the selection process of the IEBC commissioners through litigation. The NADCO report recommended that IEBC commissioners be increased from seven to nine. It also proposed that the decision of the commission be either by unanimous vote or majority vote.
“On the IEBC, the regime is not interested in the reconstitution of a credible panel. Through state-sponsored court cases, the process of setting up the panel has been frustrating,” he reiterated.
Kalonzo challenged the Judiciary to chip in and provide a way forward by addressing the pending constitutional gap that subsequently emerged.
“For the Judiciary, who are our last line of defense in the interpretation of the law, we have a simple question for you. Did the Constitution envisage a situation where the IEBC commissioners are not in office? Did the framers of the Constitution contemplate a situation where the courts can allow for a dysfunctional commission?’ Kalonzo quipped.
President William Ruto delivering an during the launch of the University of Nairobi’s Silicon Savanah Innovation Park at State House, Nairobi on November 25,2024.
PCS