SOLVE IEBC ISSUES FAST-CLERGY

Religious leaders have called for a quick
tabling of a motion in Parliament to
kick-start the process of electoral
reform.
At a press conference in Nairobi, the
clerics from various Christian and
Muslim organisations said such a motion
is required urgently because it would
determine how free, fair and credible
the 2017 General Election will be.
The statement, coming amid the clamour
to remove electoral commissioners by
the Opposition, said Parliament needs to
quickly pass laws that would address
electoral problems in the country.
“We ask both formations, Cord and
Jubilee, to embrace the task ahead with
zeal, commitment and mutual
cooperation.
“The first step in this direction would be
the tabling of a motion in both the
Senate and the National Assembly to
facilitate the formation of a joint
parliamentary committee that will steer
this process,” Eldoret Diocese Catholic
Bishop Cornelius Korir said.
The religious leaders were referring to a
motion that would determine how
electoral reform programmes will take
shape ahead of next year’s elections.
For the past one month, the Jubilee and
Cord coalitions have been haggling over
the issue of how the reforms should be
addressed.
STREET PROTESTS
For example, opposition leaders have
been demanding the resignation of
Independent Electoral and Boundaries
Commission (IEBC) officials, who they
say are biased, incompetent and corrupt.
Jubilee has been adamant that the
process of removing IEBC commissioners
should follow the Constitution and not
through street protests.
This week, however, both sides seemed
to have reached an agreement on the
way forward.
This means that such reforms will now
be spearheaded by the proposed
parliamentary select committee.
The committee will gather views from all
stakeholders and present a report to
Parliament.
“It is important that both sides have
agreed on a number of issues. What is
left now is the issue of logistics and
semantics.
"There is no reason that motion should
not be tabled even today,” National
Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK)
General-Secretary Canon Peter Karanja
said.
The religious leaders included
representatives from the Kenya
Conference of Catholic Bishops the
NCCK, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya,
the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims,
the National Muslim Leaders Forum and
the Organisation of African Instituted
Churches and the Seventh-day
Adventists.
They were meeting at Jumuia Place in
Nairobi to reflect on “our country’s
preparedness for the August 2017
general elections.”
They said people engaging in hate
speech should be punished swiftly to
discourage incitement