Jubilee Party secretary general Raphael Tuju during a past media briefing. [Photo/ standardmedia.co.ke]
Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju has told the IEBC to stop being too soft on National Super Alliance (NASA) leaders.
Tuju said IEBC is an independent body that should dispense its duties without being coerced by politicians.“We are disappointed by the IEBC,” Tuju said on Thursday after a meeting convened by the IEBC with presidential candidates or their representatives in Nairobi.“Whenever the NASA leadership speaks out you see them (IEBC officials) running around like headless chicken issuing out free tickets for political party representatives to go to Dubai to inspect the printing of ballot papers. They are scared because their predecessors were thrown out by Cord demonstrations,” he said.IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati on Thursday invited representatives of political parties to Dubai to witness the printing of ballot papers, packaging and subsequently transportation ahead of the August general election.Chebukati is under pressure from NASA to explain circumstances under which Dubai based Al Ghurair Publishing and Printing Company was awarded the tender to print ballot papers bearing in mind officials of the firm had met President Uhuru Kenyatta before the tender was awarded.On Tuesday while chairing a panel during the National Elections Conference (NEC) at the KICC in Nairobi, opposition leader Raila Odinga highlighted how the IEBC is allegedly collaborating with the Jubilee administration to rig the August presidential poll.“The first step to democracy is dialogue. NASA will not relent in its pursuit for a free and fair election. The practice of manipulating the will of the people to protect a few is now dead in Kenya. The Kenyan people are awake and will not accept a rigged process,” Raila said.During the NEC, Raila broke silence over the alleged link between top Jubilee politicians and Al Ghurair officials which IEBC awarded the Sh2.5 billion tender to print ballot papers for the August election.“Officials of the firm were in Kenya in October 2016 as head of the business delegation brought by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, during which trip they held further talks on this contract with Jubilee officials. As NASA, our stand remains that the involvement of this firm in this elections bodes ill and compromises credibility of the elections,” Raila said.