Deputy President William Ruto has allayed fears that this year’s general elections will be postponed, as a result of the ongoing process of amending the electoral laws, and incase having new IEBC officials in office takes longer than expected.
Speaking when he hosted a delegation of leaders from Bungoma County in his home, the DP set to assure Kenyans that the elections will go on as planned and stated in the constitution.
“We must have elections on August 8, 2017,” he asserted.
The visit from the Bungoma leaders, who included Governor Kenned Lusaka comes days after the coronation of Musalia Mudavadi as the region’s spokesperson, a decision that did not go down well with most of them.
They criticized the coronation, and made assurances to the Deputy President that they will deliver the western vote in the coming elections.
Ruto also assured them of free and fair nomination in the Jubilee Party, saying all will be done on merit.
“On nomination issues, we won’t favour any individual. You’ve heard Governor Lusaka mention it here, if someone wants to vie using he Jubilee ticket, he should come to Jubilee,” he said.
The issue on electoral laws and the use of electronic and manual processes during the next elections also came up, with DP insisting there must be an alternative.
“In any case, the registration of voters is manual, the voting is manual, the counting is manual, the release of the results is manual, so why try to run away from manual if it works all the way,” he posed.
“Where the electronics fail, citizens should also be given a chace to be identified, and the process must go on,” he said.