Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati has explained how the election amendment bill tabled in Parliament by Jubilee MPs will have adverse effects on the repeat polls scheduled for October 26th.
In his presentation to Parliament on Thursday, he noted that the bill might disrupt IEBC operations at the critical period as they prepare for the presidential election.
"The bill will affect the electoral process materially, considering IEBC has developed training materials, trained a considerable number of returning officers and reviewed and ordered the printing of training materials based on the existing law," he said.
The IEBC boss also stated that the team preparing for the election would be jeopardized since the new proposals have put in place foreign terminologies.
He specifically condemned the proposed changes to the IEBC Act which seeks to grant the vice chairperson the legal mandate to assume full powers of returning the vote for the presidential election in case the Chairman resigns or is unsuitable to hold office.
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He also opposed the draft law which removes the strict requirement that IEBC chairperson must be a lawyer and qualified to hold the office of Judge of the Supreme Court.
Chebukati noted that the qualification of the IEBC Chairman as dictated under the Constitution should not be changed.
"Elections are managed through a complex web of legal procedures that require the head of the institution to be competent. Delete the proposal," Chebukati said.
The Chairman also sought clarity from Parliament on the terms "live streaming" and asked them to replace "electronically and manually transmit" with "electronically transmit and physically deliver results".
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In case the MPs pass the bill tabled in Parliament, the results of the next presidential election will be determined by the results transmitted manually.
The bill seeks to amend the IEBC act, the Election Act and the Elections Offences Act by giving manually transmitted results an upper hand than the electronically transmitted ones during the election.
