Clear air over poll date, EU demands

BY VICTORIA RUBADIRI 

Facebook

Email

Print

1/1 EU envoys with CIC chairman Charles Nyachae/CapitalFM News NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 30 - The European Union has called for the immediate announcement of the date for next year's general election to eliminate uncertainty. Delegation Head Lodewijk Briet on Thursday said the EU also wanted electoral bills and security sector reforms fast-tracked, citing the significant impact of the governance reforms on the 2012 poll. "There is little time left until the new general election. It would help all of us in the preparatory process that the date can be met. In view of 2012, the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Bill and other related electoral bills such as the Political Parties Bill are of utmost urgency. Laws on devolution are also urgent in view of the need to prepare structures and systems for elections in good time," he said. There is contention over whether the poll should be held in August in line with the new Constitution, or whether the current Parliament will continue its term until December 2012. Mr Briet further added that the EU expected an acceleration of the pace of reforms, to allow an increased mobilization of resources by the international community. "There is no doubt that a number of positive developments have taken place. For instance on justice reform, the open vetting of the new Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice has been a very exciting process.  However a lot remains to be done," he said. Also speaking at the media briefing, Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) Chairman Charles Nyachae remained confident that the execution of deadlines would be met. "As far as the Constitutional time frames are concerned those laws are to be in place by the 26th of August and the laws will be in place. These time frames are tight. We don't have too much room to manoeuvre even for purposes for complying with those timelines," he said. Mr Nyachae however acknowledged that there was still a lot more work to be done in preparation for the elections next year especially concerning the enactment of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission law. "The law envisages that the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission will be in place by the 26th of August this year, but the law does not address how long it will take once we have the law in place to put the Commission in place. We need that Commission in place so that it can address the issue of the constituency boundaries, and preparation of the election next year," he said. Mr Nyachae also added that the involvement of key players like Attorney General in implementing the Constitution is crucial in ensuring the plan stays on course. "I don't think it is right for any of us who have constitutional obligations as far as to implementation process is concerned, to engage in passing the buck where the responsibility is very clear. The Clerk to the National Assembly does not have a responsibility to present the Bills to the President for assent... that lies squarely with the Attorney General," he said. Mr Nyachae blamed the Attorney General for failing to submit the IEBC bill to the president in a timely manner. On Wednesday, the Amos Wako shifted blame for failure to send the IEBC to the President for assent on the Clerk of the National Assembly, but Parliament hit back, saying the AG's office was responsible for the impediment. "My office prepared the draft Bill for assent and returned it for final verification and approval by the Clerk on the 21st June, 2011.  This was particularly crucial as the Bill had been extensively amended before passage," Mr Wako had said. Capital News spoke to the clerk, Patrick Gichohi, who confirmed that he returned to the country on Tuesday morning from official duty in Europe together with the Speaker Kenneth Marende. Mr Gichohi explained that there was a contentious clause in the Bill which needed to be rectified before the Bill was sent to the President for assent. He said that the legal departments in the two institutions were in consultations "as late as yesterday" (Tuesday) to sort out the issue. Follow us on TWITTER @CapitalFM_Kenya and the author at http://twitter.com/#!/vrubadiri

Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Clear-air-over-poll-date,-EU-demands-13414.html#ixzz1QlevjTno
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives