Jubilee MPs have warned that calls by Cord leaders to set up a
parallel vote tallying system in the 2017 elections would be a recipe
for chaos.
Tiaty MP Asman Kamama said a situation where
the country announces two presidents would plunge the country into
“total chaos”. He urged leaders in both Jubilee and the opposition to
exercise restraint in their utterances.
“Only the IEBC
(Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) is constitutionally
mandated to conduct elections hence the country cannot have two
referees, which would be a recipe for total chaos,” he said.
He
said the most viable option for Cord to reform the IEBC was through the
Okoa and Boresha Kenya referendum drives by the Opposition and Jubilee
respectively.
Last week, Orange Democratic Movement
(ODM) leader Raila Odinga met the party’s War Council also dubbed
“politburo” to reportedly lay the ground for setting up of a parallel
tallying centre during the next General Election.
STORE VOTES
According
to sources at the meeting, ODM Director of Elections Junet Mohamed
(Suna East) was tasked with a trip to Germany this month to complete
talks with a German firm to provide a parallel poll system that will
collect, transmit, tally and store presidential votes.
He
will be accompanied by lawyers, among them Siaya Senator James Orengo.
The electronic tallying system was planned to run parallel to the one
the IEBC will deploy.
Other measures by Cord to boost
their chances of winning the elections include the deployment of party
agents to cover every polling station countrywide to record and
instantly transmit election results, including photographs of the
official results announced by returning officers.
The system is expected to transmit results from all the polling stations to a central command centre based in Nairobi.
However,
Mr Mohamed dismissed the fears by Jubilee saying they should not meddle
in the internal preparations of Cord for the next general election,
confirming the opposition would set up its own parallel tallying centre.
“The
Jubilee had their own tallying system during the 2013 elections which
was in tandem with the one for the IEBC, so why are they complaining
now,” he asked.
He said Cord had this time around put
in place proper mechanisms in place, including its own vote tallying,
saying it would not be business as usual as having lost the last
elections, it had learnt its lessons.
Kiambu Senator
Kimani Wamatangi said Cord were setting the stage for chaos in 2017,
after sensing that they were likely to lose the elections.
“Cord
is anticipating that they will lose the elections going by the
statistics of pollsters and are using the strategy they will use to
mitigate their losses and bulldoze their way into power,” he said.
WOO VOTERS
He said it was needless for the opposition to talk about vote tallying 19 months to the elections, saying a better strategy to boost their chances in 2017, would be to use the funds for the tallying centre to roll out development that will woo the voters.
He said it was needless for the opposition to talk about vote tallying 19 months to the elections, saying a better strategy to boost their chances in 2017, would be to use the funds for the tallying centre to roll out development that will woo the voters.
Mukurwe-ini MP
Kabando wa Kabando claimed Cord was planning for confusion in the next
elections to precipitate chaos, wondering why they were keen on their
own tallying and yet they would have Cord agents in every polling
station.
He said: “Cord was desperate while we in Jubilee are ready for peaceful elections within mainstream democratic process.”
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