Don’t hijack IEBC role, warns Musalia Mudavadi
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi (left) poses for a selfie with the party’s secretary general, Mr Simon Kamau Gikuru, at the party head office in Nairobi during the launch of the revamped ANC digital platforms yesterday.
Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi yesterday warned against any plot to hijack the role of the electoral agency ahead of next year’s election, saying it will be a recipe for chaos.
Mr Mudavadi praised the withdrawal of the Wafula Chebukati-chaired Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from a multi-agency team that is preparing for the polls.
Mr Chebukati had written to Interior Permanent Secretary Karanja Kibicho, expressing his reservations on the Multi-sectoral Consultative Forum on Election Preparedness that is chaired by Chief Justice Martha Koome.
The action attracted a barrage of criticism from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party that is led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Deputy President William Ruto’s allies, however, praised Mr Chebukati. Yesterday, Mr Mudavadi also waded into the debate.
“It is the IEBC that is mandated to conduct elections and their role must not be hijacked ahead of the 2022 elections,” he said.
Speaking during the launch of the revamped ANC digital platform, youth charter and training manual for youth aspirants at the party headquarters in Nairobi, Mr Mudavadi underscored the need for free and fair elections.
New platform
“We do not want anybody, whether an MCA or President, to feel intimidated when they are making their choice. We should not allow that to happen,” Mr Mudavadi said. With the new platform, Mr Mudavadi explained, ANC was embracing technology in its operations.
“The digital platforms will revolutionise how we will execute party activities, moving forward,” the ANC leader said. He was accompanied by deputy party leaders Abdi Yare and Ayub Savula, Secretary General Simon Gikuru, other officials and legislators.
He criticised President Kenyatta over the country’s ballooning debt and questioned his Wednesday statement in Nakuru in which he appeared to endorse Mr Odinga to succeed him.
Sh11 trillion
“I listened to the President during the State of the Nation address and it may be statistically correct that the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] may have hit Sh11 trillion, but one statistic that was missing in the speech was that 7.5 percent of this is public debt.”
“So if we want an economy that is okay, and if those figures are accurate, then why the high level of unemployment? Why the high cost of living. Why the high taxation? Why is our currency sliding to an extent that it is now Sh114 shillings to the dollar?” Mr Mudavadi asked. He called for dialogue to address the high cost of living.
“There is no dignity in poverty. The greatest stability you can give a nation is a working economy because if the economy is not functional, the security bill is going to increase and the unemployed people will have to find a way of surviving.”
He also criticised President Kenyatta for cautioning against campaigns that discriminated against opponents based on their age. The President said such campaigns were backward and that leaders should be elected based on their intellectual ability.
Mr Mudavadi, however, countered that “young people are tired of the slow pace of their elders”.
