Thirdway Alliance leader Ekuru Aukot. He is no longer NASA's electoral reforms 'darling' after agreeing to participate in October 26 polls. [Photo: The Standard]After the High Court ruled last week that Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should include the name of  Thirdway Alliance party leader Dr Ekuru Aukot on the ballot, NASA was dealt the first major blow after withdrawing from October 26 poll the previous day.However, NASA may have gotten some reprieve when Aukot came out gun blazing with his own set of 'irreducible minimums' from IEBC to an extent of some political pundits branding him as a 'NASA sympathizer' who was a wider scheme by NASA out 'to sabotage' the forthcoming election."The IEBC was determined by the Supreme Court to have committed irregularities and illegalities on how it conducted the election hence our call for them to resign is in order so that trust and confidence can be restored in IEBC. We are not interested in disbanding the entire IEBC but fix the bad elements before we can participate in the election," said Aukot after the High Court ruling, as quoted by Citizen Digital.This was taken positively by NASA going by comments made by the coalition leaders.However, a few days later after meeting the IEBC and was briefed on the commission's preparations, Aukot indicated that he was satisfied with the IEBC preparations and was ready to participate in the polls 'so that the country can move on'."The country cannot be held to ransom by one individual. We have to move on. Some people have a sense of self-entitlement that unless they are part of something, then it is not being done the right way," Aukot said on Friday in direct reference to Raila Odinga.Raila has, however, not taken Aukot's actions and utterances kindly and has castigated him badly saying he is a 'traitor' and a 'Jubilee puppet' for accepting to be part of a 'sham process'."The other candidates had less than one percent in the annulled election. They had conceded. They have less than 10 days to campaign. They are shameless to accept the offer with these few days," Raila said in Mombasa on Sunday during a NASA rally.The IEBC announced Aukot and other six candidates, including President Uhuru Kenyatta and excluding Cyrus Jirongo will take part in the fresh poll.

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