MPs in mad rush to change election laws as vote looms
A sitting of the National Assembly.
MPs are racing against time to amend electoral laws to provide for the physical delivery of election results in areas without network coverage, impose stricter rules on nominations to county assemblies and guarantee secrecy of campaign financing.
They are also rewriting the laws so that politicians popular by their nicknames can be allowed to have their monikers on the ballot papers for the August 9 General Election and ensure petitions challenging the election of an MCA do not progress to the Court of Appeal to avoid crowding the higher courts.
With party primaries due next month, and the House attendance expected to be poor thereafter as MPs campaign in their constituencies, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi yesterday reorganised the order paper to prioritise election-related Bills.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has urged MPs to pass the amendment on results transmission to legitimise physical delivery of tallying forms, which is among the irregularities the Supreme Court cited in 2017 when it nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election, following a petition by ODM chief Raila Odinga.
11,000 polling stations
The IEBC estimates that 11,000 polling stations have no access to 3G network coverage required to electronically transmit results. It argues the provision of a complementary mechanism, therefore, allows the sealing of this gap, with the physically delivered results being transmitted together with the electronic version.
“Some of these proposals are integral to how IEBC is going to handle the August elections. I am pleased that the HBC (House Business Committee) is going to prioritise these Bills before we break in June," Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi said, welcoming Mr Muturi’s assurance as the House resumed yesterday.
The Bills listed in yesterday’s Order Paper include the Majority Leader Amos Kimunya-sponsored Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina’s Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Election Campaign Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2021; and the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The last two are sponsored by Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni.
The controversial Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022, seeks to allow the IEBC to declare election results from physically delivered forms, a big departure from the requirement to have all results transmitted electronically.
The Bill also seeks to alter the flow of results for a presidential election, with presiding officers only required to send images of the results to the national tallying centre and then personally delivering them to the constituency returning officer. The Bill seeks to amend Section 39 (1d) of the Elections Act by adding the words “and the physically delivered results.”
Already, the Justice and Legal Affairs committee has met with key stakeholders, including the IEBC, which wants the Bill passed in time for smooth preparations.
In the Bill sponsored by Mr Kimunya and backed by the IEBC, MPs also want petitions challenging MCA elections to terminate at the High Court to avoid crowding other courts handling governor, senator and Member of National Assembly petitions.
The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021, is also set to generate debate in the House as it restricts political parties from nominating MCAs who are not registered in a particular ward. For instance, if passed, it will bar parties from nominating a person to Nairobi county assembly if the person is not a registered voter within a particular ward in the city.
The Bill provides that “a person shall not be nominated by a political party unless the person – at the date of the submission of the party list – was a registered voter in any of the wards in the county in which the person is to be nominated.”
The Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, in a report, has made the rules stricter by introducing a clause that bars parties from nominating more than one person from a particular ward. “It would ensure the list of nominees for the county assembly seats reflects the face of the country. Only persons who are registered voters in a county would be eligible for nomination in that county,” the report reads.
“It is a question of honesty and integrity in the party nomination process and having people get the rightful share of what they have worked for. That is exactly where we are heading to,” Mr Kioni said of the amendments.
In the amendment to the campaign financing law, MPs do not want candidates to be compelled to issue receipts and keep records of contributions received towards their election war-chests. The law currently requires candidates and political parties to issue a receipt for any received contribution exceeding Sh20,000.
Disclosure of funds
“The disclosure of funds shall be confidential and details of such funds shall not be divulged except where such information is the subject of a complaint or an investigation, or is the subject of proceedings in a court of law," says the Bill.
The regulation required parties and candidates to open bank accounts to be monitored by the IEBC in the course of the campaigns and elections.
The MPs are also expected to agree with the Delegated Legislation committee to throw out the election campaign regulations submitted by the IEBC.
The committee chaired by Tiaty MP William Kamket had rejected the regulations, faulting the IEBC for presenting them late. The Election Campaign Financing Act, 2013, requires that the limits are imposed one year to the polls.
“While Article 88 (4) of the Constitution mandates the commission with the responsibility of regulating the amounts of money that may be spent by or on behalf of a candidate or party in respect of elections, the commission can only exercise this power in accordance with the Constitution and national legislation,” the committee report reads.
In the IEBC regulations the MPs have rejected, the agency had capped presidential campaign financing at Sh4.4 billion; governor, senator and woman rep posts at Sh433 million; and MPs at a maximum of Sh33.4 million.
