Police cordon off parliament as MPs begin session to amend election laws
A past session at the National Assembly in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Parliament Road was closed to traffic and passers-by and MPs and parliamentary staff were forced to walk to gain entry to the House
Police trucks have were stationed at the roundabouts of Intercontinental Hotel and County Hall to prevent motorists from accessing Parliament Road, creating a heavy traffic snarl-up at City Hall Way and Harambee Avenue respectively.
On Monday, Cord held a parliamentary group meeting where MPs agreed not to allow any amendment to the electoral laws.
They vowed to use every means possible to stop their Jubilee counterparts from effecting changes to the law that came into effect in September.
Police cordoned off Parliament Tuesday as MPs started a special session to amend the law to allow the electoral agency to use manual systems for identifying and transmitting election results in the event electronic means fail during the 2017 General Election.
Parliament Road was closed to traffic and passers-by and MPs and parliamentary staff were forced to walk to gain entry to the House
Police trucks were stationed at the roundabouts of Intercontinental Hotel and County Hall to prevent motorists from accessing Parliament Road, creating a heavy traffic snarl-up at City Hall Way and Harambee Avenue respectively.
There were several policemen in uniform and in plain clothes on patrol in and around Parliament.
Stormy session expected
The special session called for Tuesday morning and afternoon had been expected to be stormy after the opposition Coalition on Reforms and Democracy (Cord) insisted they would not accept any "coma or full stop" to be amended in the negotiated electoral laws.
Cord successfully spearheaded weekly protests earlier in the year that resulted in the exit of commissioners at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners.
On Monday, Cord held a parliamentary group meeting where MPs agreed not to allow any amendment to the electoral laws.
They vowed to use every means possible to stop their Jubilee counterparts from effecting changes to the law that came into effect in September.
The Cord MPs arrived early in Parliament in readiness for the execution of business as stipulated in the Order Paper, laying the agenda of the special session.
Awaiting new team
The Issack Hassan-led IEBC is in office awaiting the recruitment of new commissioners as stipulated in the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016.
Samuel Chepkonga, who chairs the National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs committee, has sponsored amendments that require the commission to put in place an alternative and complementary mechanism for identification and transmission of election results that is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable and transparent.
“The commission shall use the alternative mechanism for identification and transmission of election results only where the technology initially deployed fails,” says part of Chepkonga’s amendment.
Mr Chepkonga said before using the alternative mechanisms for identification and transmission of election results, the IEBC shall notify the public and all candidates and immediately cause the notification to be published in the electronic media and in at least two daily newspapers of national circulation detailing the reasons necessitating the use of alternative mechanisms.
