Nasa leader Raila Odinga. [Photo/ The Star]
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to stop the debate by Jubilee Party on the Elections Act (Amendment) Bill 2017.
Speaking after he met religious leaders at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on Friday, the National Super Alliance leader said there was no need of changing electoral laws.
The former prime minister said the move by Jubilee was aimed at watering down the constitution and will take Kenya back to the dark days.
“We do want someone who changes the rules in the middle of the game. There is no need to change the goalposts when the Supreme Court has already implicated the IEBC,” Raila said, as quoted by The Nation.
The ODM leader, who successfully challenged Uhuru’s win at the Supreme Court, said he will not participate in the October 26 presidential election if Jubilee lawmakers pass amendments on the elections law.
He said the bill tabled in parliament by Jubilee is retrogressive.
The Bill seeks to principally address the shortcomings that led to the invalidation of the August presidential vote, watering down the requirement for electronic transmission of the results and instead placing manual transmission as the legally binding process.
The proposed law also makes changes on who is supposed to be the national returning officer of the presidential election, stripping the IEBC chairman of the mandatory powers of declaring the results.