Violent confrontations are reported to have occurred in Parliament on Thursday morning after CORD and Jubilee Members of Parliament (MPs) clashed over the proposed amendments to the Election laws.
Embakasi South MP Irshad Sumra, who is allied to the ODM Party, had bruises on his face and claimed he was assaulted inside the Assembly by five Jubilee legislators.
“I was beaten by five Jubilee MPs in the parliament… they told me that Raila Odinga would not save me there,” the ODM MP stated.
At the same time, Tigania-East MP Mpuru Aburi of Jubilee displayed an injury on his cheek stating that it was inflicted by Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo.
The MPs were not the only ones affected as NTV journalist Kennedy Muriithi was also arrested and roughed up by police officers as he tried to cover the special sitting.
Police officers, who had been deployed to Parliament, pounced on Muriithi, confiscated his phone and deleted the photos and videos he had recorded.
CORD legislators stormed out of the proceedings with Mr Midiwo alleging that Jubilee lawmakers had guns in Parliament and were threatening them.
After leaving the Assembly, the Opposition legislators took to the streets and marched to the Milimani Law Courts while Jubilee MPs passed the controversial amendments allowing a manual back-up in voting, transmission and tallying of election results.
It now means that in instances where the BVR technology fails during the 2017 polls, IEBC will revert to the manual system.
CORD MPs have since filed a petition seeking the court to outlaw the passed amendments.
