National Assembly Majority Leader, Kimani Ichung’wa, has expressed optimism that once parliament resumes in a week’s time, the House will be able to quickly adopt the recommendations of bipartisan talks on the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Ichung’wa said because there was a bipartisan engagement process through the national dialogue to change the law in the reconstitution of IEBC, he was positive that Parliament will speedily adopt the Report.
This, Ichung’wa said, will pave way for enactment of a new law, that will guide the process for recruitment of a new commission, under whichever model the Parliament will agree on.
He said it was their desire to have a new commission recruited, as a matter of priority, to avert a constitutional crisis, as IEBC is supposed to begin and complete boundary delimitation by the end of March.
“We also want to conduct by-elections in constituencies without representation, such as Banisa, owing to delayed recruitment of new commissioners,” he said.
Speaking in Embu Town, when he attended issuance of bursaries to learners and assistive devices to PWDs by the area Women Representative, Pamela Njoki, the Kikuyu Constituency Legislator, said he was in agreement with the High Court ruling, ordering immediate recruitment of new IEBC Commissioners.
“I can’t agree more with Judge Mugure Thande, that the law has no mechanism of stopping the IEBC recruitment panel,” he said, adding that in the same light, the law does not limit the time the panel will take.
At the same time, Ichung’wa who was accompanied by the Taita Taveta Woman Representative, Lydia Haika and her Kirinyaga Counterpart, Njeri Maina, defended the Affordable Housing Project, saying it had created employment for many people across the country.
The MP maintained President William Ruto’s stand, that not a single contractor will leave the site, even as they continue defending housing levy deductions in court.
“We want to plead with our colleagues who are critical of this program, not to look at the simplistic view of just houses coming up, but thousands of lives being imparted by this program,” said National Assembly the Majority Leader.
The Kirinyaga Woman Representative, said the program had accorded thousands of jobless Kenyans and their dependants, a steady income to sustain their lives.
By Samuel Waititu
