Tuesday, June 07, 2016
National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale speaks during a meeting of Parliament leaders and news editors at Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, June 7, 2016. Photo/ COURTESY
By NANCY AGUTU, @nancyagutu and JAMES MBAKA
Aden Duale has said IEBC commissioners cannot leave office despite Cord's calls and possible dialogue as there is no law on their replacement.
The National Assembly majority leader said he will be forced to oppose the removal for this reason, should Jubilee and Cord dialogue over the stalemate.
The opposition, led by Cord chief Raila Odinga, has accused commission chairman Issack Hassan and his team of colluding with Jubilee to rig polls .
"They will have to come to Parliament and I may oppose it. IEBC commissioners cannot leave office until the law providing for their replacement is enacted," said the
"If Hassan and his team left office today... or if one commissioner died, God forbid, there is no law on how they will be replaced."
Duale, who is also Garissa Town MP, noted that the constitution amendment bill does not seek to disband the IEBC.
He said the bill by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee provides the legal framework for the recruitment of the electoral body's next bosses.
"The media has not reported accurately on this. There has been misinformation that the committee has found the cure to disbanding the IEBC," he said.
He spoke during a meeting of Parliament leaders and editors at Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi on Tuesday.
Duale added that the law on the appointment of a selection panel to recruit commissioners is obsolete. He said it was outdated with the end of the rule by the grand coalition government.
The law provides that President Uhuru Kenyatta and Cord leader Raila Odinga each nominate two people to the panel.
"There is a lacuna in the law that must be cured before the Issack Hassan team quits office, if they have to," said Duale.
The majority leader said the earliest IEBC commissioners can leave office is December.
Article 256 of the constitution provides that the bill, which has now been published, will be introduced at the National Assembly after 90 days.
It will take a further 90 days for the Senate to okay the law should it be passed by the National Assembly.
But Cord leaders want Hassan and his team to leave office immediately and have been holding weekly protests for their forceful removal.
Raila, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka have insisted that the IEBC cannot be trusted to handle the August 2017 general election.
Cord threatened to increase the number of its weekly protests against the commission if the government does not heed dialogue calls.
The coalition has made numerous calls for dialogue with the Jubilee administration on the disbandment of the IEBC.
On Monday, Raila said he turned down an invitation from the electoral agency's commissioners to discuss the
stalemate that has resulted in protests .
The time for talks is over, he told his supporters Nairobi's Uhuru Park during demonstrations on Monday.
Demonstrations also took place in Migori and Kisumu counties. These started on Sunday in Migori after Cord supporters learned that no agreement had been reached on the IEBC stalemate.