President says 60-day timeline cannot change in repeat polls

NAIROBI, 19 Sept 2017 (PSCU) – President Uhuru Kenyatta today said he expected elections to be held within the 60-day period set out in the Constitution after the Supreme Court annulled the August 8 polls, and that the electoral agency IEBC would conduct it.

The President said no one had the right to impose conditions on the IEBC before the repeat elections were held, and that threats by the opposition coalition NASA amounted to bullying, intimidation, and rogue politics, but would amount to nothing.

President Kenyatta spoke when he received a 8,000-strong member delegation from Narok County, at which former gubernatorial candidate Patrick ole Ntutu and 10 MCAs pledged full support for his re-election campaign.

“The election must be done within 60 days (of the Supreme Court decision) and two, the election must be conducted by IEBC as required by the Constitution,” President Kenyatta said.

President Kenyatta was accompanied by Deputy President William Ruto and Narok Governor Samuel ole Tunai.

The President said “noises” by the opposition that they would boycott or block the election amounted to empty banter.

“We are telling our opponents to stop intimidating Kenyans. Nobody can block the election. And we will not give in to any kind of intimidation from anybody,” President Kenyatta said.

He told the opposition to seek votes from the electorate countrywide instead of focusing on issuing threats. He argued that threats and press conferences in Nairobi had yielded no votes for the opposition in the August 8 elections.

The President also poured cold water on opposition claims that there would be a vacuum or constitutional crisis if NASA skipped the repeat polls. If no election was held, the President said he would divert the savings to development, such as the flagship energy programme “last mile”.

Deputy President Ruto trashed the opposition’s demands on the repeat presidential election, saying no one has the authority to interfere with the right of Kenyans to exercise their democratic will.

“Our competitors should stop telling us that there will be no election. Who else has powers and authority to tell Kenyans that they cannot exercise their constitutional right?” asked the Deputy President.

“We must all follow the law for the country to progress,” the Deputy President said.

He told off the opposition leaders, saying they should not take Jubilee for granted thinking that its leaders are weak just because they have accepted to abide by the law.

The DP said Kenyans will not allow individuals to continue using unconstitutional means to interfere with independent organizations.

“The opposition used unconstitutional means to remove Samuel Kivuitu from office, a similar method was used to remove Isaac Hassan from office and now they want to use unconstitutional means to remove the IEBC secretariat. This will not be allowed,” said the Deputy President.

The Deputy President said Jubilee agreed to accept the Supreme Court ruling so as to abide by the rule of law but that should not be misconstrued to mean that the party is weak or its members are stupid.

“As Kenyans, we have agreed to follow the Constitution. Not because we are weak but because we love peace and respect the Constitution,” said DP Ruto.

Mr. Ole Ntutu said he decided to concede defeat for the sake of unity and peace in Narok County so as to allow the residents to continue with their development programmes.

He thanked the President for initiating several development projects in Narok county which would ensure prosperity for the residents.

All Narok leaders assured the President that they will conduct door to door campaigns with the aim of delivering over 90 per cent votes to Jubilee in the repeat election.

Narok Governor Samuel Ole Tunai said the leaders – both elected and those who lost in the August election – agreed to work together for the sake of the re-election of President Kenyatta.

“All those who won electoral seats both at county and national Assemblies have agreed to work together to ensure you win the seat,” the Narok Governor assured President Kenyatta.

“We are determined to make sure you get over 90 per cent of the Narok votes,” Governor Tunai said.

Other speakers included MPs Soipan Tuya (Women Rep), Korei Lemein (Narok South), Lemanken Aramat (Narok East) and Gabriel Ole Tongoyo among others.