ODM chairman John Mbadi with other ODM MPs in parliament. [Photo/ The Star]
NASA leaders have been all over the place bashing IEBC for allegedly not conducting a proper general election on August 8. The elected leaders, who ironically came to power in an election conducted by the Wafula Chebukati-led body, have refused to resign from their posts, and are now busy campaigning in Kitutu Chache South constituency in Kisii for their respective candidates in NASA affiliated parties.The election of the area MP was postponed after the Jubilee candidate, Leonard Mwamba, died in a road accident in July this year. Political parties in NASA, including Ford Kenya, ODM, Wiper and Amani are now fighting each over the seat, which is likely to go to Jubilee. The parties and elected leaders have not questioned the competence of IEBC in conducting a free and fair election in that area, raising questions of doublespeak. After Raila Odinga, now the leader of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), lost to President Uhuru Kenyatta by more than 1.4 million votes in the August 8 elections, MPs, senators, governors, women representatives and members of the county assemblies elected under NASA parties started discrediting the ability of IEBC to preside over a free and fair election. It now appears that when they lose, they blame the referee (IEBC) but when they win, they say the election, conducted by the same electoral commission, is a reflection of the will of the people. Isn’t this the classic definition of doublespeak? If the NASA leaders did not believe that IEBC was not capable of conducting free and fair polls, they would have dismissed their wins and called another body to preside over the new election.