A section of leaders who defected to Jubilee Party. ODM has opposed a move by the ruling party to use IEBC in conducting its primaries. PHOTO/the-star.co.ke
ODM has opposed the planned overseeing of Jubilee Party nominations by IEBC.
In a statement by ODM secretary for political affairs Opiyo Wandayi on Saturday, the opposition party said that the act would be a breach of the constitution on three grounds.
In the first reason, ODM argues that IEBC is the constitutional body mandated to arbitrate in disputes arising from internal party operations and must therefore not be part in such activities.
He said that this mandate ‘cannot be donated’ to another body under any circumstances.
“The IEBC cannot therefore be expected to sit in arbitration over disputes that may arise from a party nomination exercise that it has itself presided over,” he said.
Secondly, Wandayi said that IEBC's supervision of JP nominations would mean that public funds are used at the public's expense.
He argued that this contravened a court ruling which barred funding of nominations for individual political parties by the ex-chequer.
“For Jubilee to insist on raiding public coffers to finance its nominations is not only illegal but also utterly insensitive, particularly in view of the current harsh economic environment that the Kenyan public has been subjected to as a result of Jubilee's own failed policies,” Wandayi added.
He also said that IEBC’s involvement in JP's internal affairs was going to affect its ability to beat major electoral timelines prior to the August 8 polls.
He said IEBC is already struggling to meet major timelines which are already behind schedule even as the August polls move near.
“The last thing it needs is a distraction in the form of predictably messy party nominations by an outfit with no known functioning structures such as Jubilee,” Wandayi said.
He therefore argued that the elections oversight body risked losing credibility in case it enjoined itself in such internal party affairs.
“In order to safeguard its reputation, the Chebukati team must repudiate the evil Jubilee overtures,” Wandayi said.
However, the Jubilee Party has said that their intent in using IEBC in party primaries was to demonstrate internal party democracy ahead of the next polls.