Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission(IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati has given his thoughts on the laws tabled by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale proposing changes to the country's electoral laws.
Mr Chebukati stated: "We have identified areas that we need to work on...We don't need any other laws to hold an election on October 26th."
He, however, noted that he had not yet read the amendments but had just received his online copy. He stated: "We are hoping whatever changes made should not affect what we are doing, to do so would affect our manual, our training of officials."
He also announced that a complementary system had been agreed upon, the details of which he promised would soon be advertised in the dailies.
He made it clear that the commission was ready to hold an election on October 26th, noting that they had been fixing areas that led to the nullification of the August polls; specifically, result transmission and statutory forms.
He invited both Jubilee and NASA back to the negotiating table and noted that most of the other issues on the agenda can be discussed and agreed upon.
The National Super Alliance had earlier stormed out of the consultative meeting due to the ramifications the proposed laws may have on the forthcoming election.
Paul Mwangi, who is part of NASA's legal team, stated: "The effect of the amendment is to change the rules of the game midstream. What was a foul previously is no longer a foul."
Among the proposed changes is the implementation of a parallel transmission system that is manual. The manually transmitted results will be considered final.
The laws also strip the IEBC chairperson of some powers, lowering the quorum for IEBC meetings to three and allowing any commissioner to lead meetings. According to Siaya Senator James Orengo, this is because Jubilee has certain commissioners who will guarantee them victory regardless of the actual results.
The proposed changes are also less stringent on statutory forms having to be prescribed.
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