Kibaki assents to Bill allowing for more time to party hop

By Allan Kisia

NAIROBI, KENYA: Members of Parliament now have until January 18 to party hop after President Kibaki signed into law the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2012 that was passed by Parliament last week.

The President assented to the Bill yesterday, which also outlines the management of petitions and how to expedite them in the event of a run-off.

Politicians eyeing various elective seats in the General Election will now have to be members of political parties, at least by January 18, as opposed to the earlier deadline of January 4, as stipulated in the Political Parties Act.

It means that politicians who will lose in the party nominations, scheduled to take place between January 7 and 10, will still be able to jump to other parties, to have their names on the ballot papers.

The President also assented to seven other Bills — The Political Parties Amendment Bill, 2012, the Human Resource Management Professional Bill 2012, the Office of the Attorney General Bill, 2012, the Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and affected Communities Bill, 2012, the Micro and Small Enterprises Bill, 2012, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service Bill, 2012 and the Seeds and Plant Varieties (Amendment) Bill, 2012.

Parliament last month passed an amendment to the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2012 setting the limit for submission of party lists to the IEBC to 45 days before the elections.

Effectively, the same deadline has been set for candidates to submit their nomination papers to IEBC.

Attorney General Githu Muigai proposed the changes to the Elections Act 2012, which received unanimous backing from legislators.

He told the House the IEBC had objected to plans to reduce the time for nomination of candidates as the it wanted it done early enough so it could have enough time to deal with disputes arising from the exercise.