Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot on Tuesday blasted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati after he responded to his proposal on a referendum to reduce the size of Parliament.
Aukot expressed his disappointment in the IEBC boss response clarifying that all he needed was a meeting with Chebukati who seemingly avoided it.
While unveiling his shadow cabinet, the Thirdway party leader had noted that they were waiting for the IEBC to invite them for talks on how to go about the collection of five million signatures to pave way for Constitutional amendments.
[caption caption="Ekuru Aukot (Twitter)"]
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In response, Chebukati clarified that Aukot's party should consider using the procedure of initiating and conducting a referendum as set out in articles 255,356 and 257 of the Constitution.
"The procedure under Article 256 is initiated through a parliamentary process while the procedure under Article 257 is by way of popular initiative, therefore considering the specificities of the proposed referendum by Thirdway Kenya Alliance may apply," he stated.
Aukot, however, termed the response 'idiotic' further stating that the IEBC boss isn't fit, suitable and competent to be chair of the Commission.
"See this idiotic response to our letter from [IEBC] and from the person of [Chebukati]. No wonder our electoral management body is pathetic.
"My little knowledge of the letter by [Thirdway] to [IEBC] [is that it] was about requesting a meeting with the IEBC, not an explanation on how a referendum is done. It is this kind of things that erode the public confidence in IEBC.
"He is incompetent if he can't read a one-page letter, a guy who came last in the interview, only to be awarded the top position, is unable to read our letter. I am not surprised at all." he wrote on his Twitter page.
Chebukati's response:
In the proposal, Dr Aukot's party was seeking to reduce the size of Parliament by slashing the number of MPs from the current 349 to 100 by abolishing the current constituencies, but increasing the number of Senators from 67 to 94.
