ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has criticised a plan by some MPs to change the election date saying it is a recipe for violence.
“Reports that the National Assembly is plotting to introduce an amendment to postpone elections scheduled next year are not only alarming but curious as it is aimed at aborting the people's will," Mudavadi said in a statement on Wednesday and quoted by the Daily Nation.
The 2013 presidential aspirant said the Constitution states that a general election should be held on the first Tuesday of August every fifth year.
This means that the 2017 polls should be conducted on August 8.
A recent report by the Daily Nation stated that some MPs were seeking to postpone next year’s elections.
It added that a Bill on the issue is expected to be tabled before the National Assembly by an MP from Mandera County.
But Mudavadi says the election date as embedded in the law, seeks to set a tradition and provide certainty and predictability for future elections.
He said ANC will neither entertain nor support clandestine attempts to alter the election date.
“Any clandestine connivance to change the election date at the whim of a few is betrayal of the struggle for democracy and mutilation of the Constitution,” Mudavadi noted.
He accused those fronting the idea saying it is a ploy to prolong their tenure in office stating that Kenyans cannot afford a reversal of such magnitude.
The former deputy prime minister termed the MPs in the ploy as not only being selfish but also completely wrong.
“Unfortunately both the ruling party and opposition haven’t been forceful against designs to change the election date on flimsy and ridiculous excuses such school calendar and budget. It is suspicious how clumsy Parliament amended the Elections Act and put in place unworkable deadlines,” he said.
He asked the public to avoid the temptation to imitate African countries that have experienced volatility when masses react with anger to deferred elections.