MPs: Slow pace of reforms to delay 2012 poll

Written By:Correspondent,    Posted: Tue, Mar 08, 2011

The slow pace of enacting crucial bills by parliament could derail the next general election slated for August next year as stipulated in the new constitution.

Over fifteen MPs attending a workshop in Naivasha Tuesday raised the red flag admitting that it would be impossible to hold the elections in the stipulated month.

According to the African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption (APNAC), the slow process of enacting the constitution, coupled with the ongoing political bickering was to blame.

The organization chairman MP Musikari Kombo said that parliament was behind schedule in passing various legislations as per the 5th schedule.

The Mps who  included Ababu Namwamba, Shakir Shabir, Margaret Kamar, Professor Ayiech Olweny, Mithika Linturi among others said the failure to have the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in place as one reason why the elections could be delayed.

"We are running out of time and we don't have structures on the ground ahead of the 2012 elections,"

Kombo added that failure to have a supreme court to deal with any election dispute and lack of a new voters register as some of the other hiccups.

"We expect Kenyans in the Diaspora to participate in the elections yet we do not have the required structures on the ground,"

Flanked by fellow Mps, Kombo questioned the elections date saying that they could create a crisis to the country.

According to him, budget could not be read on June and elections conducted in August as written in the new constitution.

"Parliament will be dissolved three months before the election in August and we wonder which Mps will pass the budget as we shall have been sent home,"

Kombo was addressing the press in a Naivasha hotel at the end of a two day workshop on anti-corruption and the implementation of the new constitution.

He called on the two principals to lead from the front adding that the political differences and the 2012 elections as the hindrances to fully enacting the new constitution.

"Some of the issues in the new constitution need political solutions and they cannot be addressed if the current differences continue,"

On his part, Mp Jeremiah Kioni called on his colleagues to desist from interpreting the constitution for political mileage.

"This is one of the reasons that have contributed to parliament been behind schedule and this could have adverse implications in future,"