Jubilee lawmakers have agreed to push for various amendments to Kenya's electoral laws after a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto at State House on Tuesday.
Among the proposed changes is an amendment to Section 141(1) of the Constitution that currently reserves the task of swearing in the President exclusively for the Chief Justice or the Deputy Chief Justice.
The law states that the swearing in of the President-elect shall be in public before the Chief Justice, or, in the absence of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice.
If the proposed amendments go through, any Supreme Court judge will be able to swear in the President-elect.
The Jubilee lawmakers also agreed to push for the replacement of the electronic vote transmission system with a manual one. The nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta's win in the August polls by the Supreme Court was informed majorly by transmission issues, with 11,883 Forms 34A unavailable up to 9 days after the close of the polls.
Speaking after the meeting, William Ruto stated: “We want to ensure the mischief and loopholes that were used in the nullification of a fairly won election do not happen again.”
Two Supreme Court Judges; Justice Jackton Ojwang' and Justice Njoki Ndung'u delivered dissenting rulings as their counterparts led by Chief Justice David Maraga issued the majority ruling that saw President Uhuru's win nullified.
The fresh election is scheduled for October 26th. The National Super Alliance (NASA) has, however, declared that there will be no election on that date if their demands for changes in the electoral body are not met.
The Opposition coalition wants Dubai-based printing firm Al Ghurair and French Security firm OT-Morpho out, as well as IEBC Chairperson Ezra Chiloba.
Jubilee has disparaged NASA for not respecting the independence of the IEBC.
The electoral commission is set to hold a consultative meeting with Jubilee and NASA leaders today.
