Raila and Mudavadi accuse Jubilee of plotting to rig General Election

Cord leader Raila Odinga (left) with his Amani National Congress counterpart Musalia Mudavadi at the former's office at Capitol Hill Towers in Nairobi on December 16, 2015. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• Mr Odinga said the company has no experience of conducting audits of voter registers.
• The two leaders said Jubilee had caused delays in the publication of the elections Bill and assent to the law, and in the appointment of a panel to select new IEBC members in a bid to stay in power.

By BRIAN MOSETI
More by this Author

Cord leader Raila Odinga and his Amani National Congress counterpart Musalia Mudavadi have accused the Jubilee government of plotting to rig the General Election next year and questioned the selection of KPMG to audit the voter register.

Mr Odinga said the company had no experience of conducting audits of voter registers.

“No one knows how the firm was selected. This is just a ploy by Jubilee to engage a user- friendly company to conduct the audit so that they can find a way of rigging,” the opposition leader said.

“Nobody knows what the methodology, parameters and standards are against which the audit will take place. In essence, the IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) plans to audit its own register in an opaque manner known only to itself and against the spirit of the negotiated settlement,” he added.

The two leaders said Jubilee had caused delays in the publication of the elections Bill and assent to the law, and in the appointment of a panel to select new IEBC members in a bid to stay in power.

Mr Odinga also raised concern over the position of the IEBC on declaring bank accounts, saying this was premature. He said the commission was “putting the cart before the horse”.

“As we stand now, there are no candidates but only aspirants. So how can one declare their accounts before they have even been certified by the party?” he said.

LEAVE OFFICE

He added that the IEBC members should leave office “because they are only there to help provide rigging mechanisms to Jubilee and that the new commissioners who will be appointed will have a problem when they come in”.

“There are signs that the Jubilee administration, in collaboration with the sacked IEBC officials, are working overdrive to pre-empt the will of the people next year through a number of underhand ways,” said Mr Mudavadi.

“As these delays have persisted, the sacked and discredited commissioners remain in office, using their extended stay to tilt the electoral infrastructure in favour of Jubilee through acts of omission and commission,” said Mr Mudavadi.

He also said Parliament was asked to hold a special sitting with the intention of amending the electoral laws, thereby create more ways of cheating.

“In a move that clearly shows that Jubilee intends to use its incumbency and numbers, Parliament has been recalled to adopt a motley of laws on elections with the ultimate aim of throwing out the negotiated agreement and revert to the old order that allows dead people and underage people to vote, ballot stuffing and manual voting because these favour Jubilee,” said Mr Mudavadi.