IEBC Commissioner Roseline Akombe. [Photo|Standard]
Commissioner of the IEBC Roseline Akombe now says that the issue about NASA leader Raila Odinga’s withdrawal from the 26th October repeat polls cannot be solved by the electoral commission.
Commissioner Akombe argues that decision by any candidate to participate or withdraw from an election is a huge issue that cannot be solved by the commission alone because it is purely a political matter.
She said that IEBC cannot force Mr. Odinga to formalize his withdrawal by signing the form 24A, noting that their sole responsibility as an electoral commission is to do every technical preparation for the elections but leave the outstanding political issues to be handled politically.
The IEBC Commissioner, who spoke on Monday at a hotel in Bondo where she assessed the progress of the on-going training of IEBC staffs ahead of the repeat polls, warned that the politicians should not expect that the commission can use an electoral process to address the outstanding political issues in this country.
Commissioner Akombe reiterated that their job as a commission is to do the technical preparations for the elections and expect that the rests of the Kenyans including political leaders, the church and business community will come together to address the political questions about participation.
She stated however that it is critical to have the outstanding political issues resolved for the repeat polls to go on smoothly.
The Commissioner who was flanked by IEBC’s Siaya County Returning officer Mrs Ruth Khulundu stated that the elections exercise would hardly be successful regardless of how technically prepared they are and their staffs are trained if the outstanding political issues are not resolved.