NASA will not hold any casual meetings with IEBC, says Raila Odinga

 

The National Super Alliance insists that it will only engage with the electoral commission through an open structured dialogue where binding resolutions will be made and shared with the public.

In a statement read by NASA co-principal Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, the Opposition said it sees no evidence that the commission is making, in good faith, any effort to conduct a fresh election that fulfils the letter and spirit of the judgment made by the Supreme Court in its nullification of the August 8 presidential poll.

Also in attendance were Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.

NASA argued that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati “is acting as if the Supreme Court did not find the commission culpable of bungling the elections.”

Stakeholder dialogue

“NASA does not intend to hold any casual meetings with the IEBC as currently constituted or under the ad hoc smokescreen in which it operates currently. We will only engage the commission through an open-structured national stakeholder dialogue in which binding resolutions will be made and shared with the public. No more boardroom meetings with IEBC,” said Mr Mudavadi.

Instead, Mudavadi accused IEBC of attempting to circumvent the illegalities and irregularities it was cited for, which he said is enough evidence that the commission intends to conduct another sham election.

“We do not have to remind the commission that the Supreme Court declared the presidential election null, void, and invalid and stated unequivocally that elections are to be adjudged on the constitutional threshold of a free and fair election,” he added.

NASA also took a swipe at the commission for releasing information that it had scheduled a meeting with the alliance.

NASA has delivered to IEBC a letter of pre-conditions it said were necessary for a free, fair, credible, and accountable election.

In the letter, NASA argued that a credible election cannot be achieved by cosmetic exercises intended to ring-fence vote-riggers and vote-rigging, adding that the preconditions are for purposes of a credible fresh presidential election.

The Opposition coalition argued that their irreducible demands are not impossibilities and are within the emerging broad international consensus that IEBC needs to correct the irregularities and illegalities committed in order to carry out a credible fresh election.

“We are dealing with a very thick-skinned and callous leadership at the IEBC that is not moved by the Supreme Court judgment, the unprecedented public outrage, and our attempt to impress upon them the gravity of the misdeeds,” added Mudavadi.

He said that when his team visited IEBC three days ago, they were presented with a document they had never been informed about.

According to Mudavadi, the document failed to acknowledge that the court had found the commission culpable for ‘illegalities and irregularities’ in the elections.

A meeting scheduled between Opposition representatives and the electoral agency failed to take place for the third time in a row yesterday, heralding a crisis ahead of the October 17 repeat polls.

Mutual request

The leaders failed to meet the commissioners, stating that they would not honour the invite until some of their demands are met.

Even though NASA skipped the key event, IEBC insisted that the meeting was put off due to a ‘mutual request’.

“Basically the issue of cancellation is mutual. They looked at the documents which we had supplied them and there some demands coming our way,” IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati said.

-Geoffrey Mosoku, Kepher Otieno and Rawlings Otieno