Jubilee's push for new election law continues
Senator Fatuma Dullo (left) and Baringo North MP William Cheptumo - chairpersons of the parliamentary ad hoc committee handling the proposed changes to the election laws - pay attention during proceedings at Continental house, Nairobi, on October 3, 2017. Mr Cheptumo sponsored the bill. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The debate on the proposed law went on even as Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga announced his withdrawal.
- The team also recommended that the fine for errant election officers be doubled to Sh2 million.
The National Assembly last evening made one more step towards passing a controversial bill to change the manner in which the repeat presidential election will be managed.
The bill, which also provides for a candidate to be declared elected unopposed if another withdraws from the race, could go through the last stage Wednesday before being passed on to the Senate in the afternoon.
SECOND READING
The debate on the proposed law went on even as Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga announced his withdrawal from the October 26 election.
There were no Nasa MPs in the chamber when the bill was put to the vote at the second reading, with Bobasi MP Innocent Obiri being the only opposer.
Baringo North MP William Cheptumo sponsored the bill on behalf of the Jubilee Party.
QUALIFICATION
None of the other provisions would be radically changed, the ad hoc committees that scrutinised the bill said in reports tabled in the Senate and the National Assembly.
“We agreed to maintain the provision that the chairman of the IEBC be a lawyer,” Mr Cheptumo said.
The committee was of the opinion that the nature of the duties of the chairman make it essential for him to have a legal education, saying: “The electoral process has numerous legal instruments and processes.”
DEPUTY
The team gave the example of the requirement that the chairman of the Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee be a person qualified to hold the office of a judge of the High Court.
“In the present composition of the commission, only the chairperson is qualified to be the chairperson of the committee,” the committee noted.
Mr Cheptumo said the provision to have the vice-chairman act as chairman was supported by the practice in other areas, such as the Deputy President taking over in the absence of the President and the Deputy Chief Justice standing in for the Chief Justice.
“The law is there to deal with unprecedented situations,” Mr Cheptumo said.
JAIL TERM
He also quoted a submission by a member of the public, at the open hearings last week, who detailed the manual nature of the voting and counting process, in buttressing the committee’s position on having the manual delivery of results happen concurrently with the electronic transmission.
The team also recommended that the fine for errant election officers be doubled to Sh2 million and the jail term kept at five years.
“Every Kenyan must know that an election will be held and if you mess up, bungle it, you’ll be punished,” he said.
