Kibaki paves way for mini polls in Kangema, Ndhiwa and Kajiado North
President Kibaki has cleared the way for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to hold by-elections in Kangema, Ndhiwa and Kajiado North July 6, 2012. FILE
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Friday, July 6 2012 at 11:41
Posted Friday, July 6 2012 at 11:41
President Kibaki has cleared the way for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to hold by-elections in Kangema, Ndhiwa and Kajiado North.
By assenting to the Statute (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2012, the President paved way for Speaker Kenneth Marende to declare the seats vacant. The Speaker is now expected to declared the seats vacant after Parliament sorted a lacuna in the law that had blocked him from taking any action.
As a result, residents of Kangema have had no representation in Parliament since February 21 when Environment minister John Michuki died, aged 80. He had served Kangema constituents for 25 years.
Ndhiwa and Kajiado North seats fell vacant after their MPs Orwa Ojode and George Saitoti died in a helicopter crash on June 10.
IEBC chief executive officer, James Oswago, told the Nation that the Kangema by-election has been delayed by inconsistency in the law.
Express law
He said the electoral body would kick off the by-election process once the Speaker declares the seats vacant.
“The Elections Act and the election regulations are in variance with the previous law. However, after the amendments passed in Parliament this week, the Speaker can now issue the writs. We will then await the normal process and conduct the by-elections,” Mr Oswago said.
Until Friday, no by-elections could be held unless the Elections Act was amended to enable the Speaker issue writs for the vacant seats. No law expressly outlined how the by-elections can be carried out.
The Elections Act suspended the provision that gave the National Assembly Speaker the power to issue writs declaring a seat vacant until after the first General Election in the Constitution.
It is because of this lacuna that Attorney General Githu Muigai put up amendments to the Elections Act, 2011, to facilitate by-elections.
“The Elections Act is ambiguous. So we have to solve concerns raised by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to have some clarity in the Act,” said Prof Muigai.
Honour request
There has also been a concern that the IEBC does not have the money to carry out the by-elections after the government failed to honour its request of a Sh35 billion budget for its operations including the 2013 elections. Instead, the IEBC has been left to operate on a budget of Sh17.5 billion up to July next year.
But Mr Oswago moved to calm any fears that the electoral body would not be able to conduct the by-elections due to lack of funds.
“We had already set aside money for three by-elections in our budget and therefore, yes, the pending by-elections have been provided for,” Mr Oswago said.
Last year, IEBC estimated that a by-election would cost taxpayers an average of Sh50 million per constituency and would take up to four months to prepare and conduct. This means that it may be until November when the three constituencies will get new representatives.
Under the Constitution, the Speaker has 21 days from the date the vacancy occurred to declare the seat vacant paving way for a by-election, which shall be held within 90 days of the occurrence of the vacancy. The Kangema by-election should have been held by June 14, if the law had been followed.
The AG moved an amendment to introduce a new section in the Elections Act that allows the Speaker to declare the seats vacant. The law had suspended the Speaker’s powers to issue writs until the next general election.
The new section introduced states; “For avoidance of doubt, any election held before the first elections for Parliament under the Constitution shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the former Constitution and the law applicable under that Constitution pursuant to section 3(2) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.”
Section 3(2) of the Sixth Schedule allows for the continued operation of sections 30 to 40, 43 to 46 and 48 to 58 of the former Constitution, the provisions concerning the executive and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act.
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