International
KENYA: Lawmakers protest, demand resignation of election officials
Opposition lawmakers in Kenya boycotted parliament opened on Tuesday by President Uhuru Kenyatta to partake in a rally calling for the immediate resignation of election officials before a re-run.
Speaking at the rally held in Kibera, the capital’s largest slum, Kalonzo Musyoka, running mate of Kenyatta’s presidential rival Raila Odinga, rejected the October 17 re-run date unless officials on the election board, whom they blame for mishandling the polls, resign.
“Now we are putting it squarely to you that the Supreme Court of this country has found you incompetent,” he said.
However, Kenyatta after opening parliamentary session delivered a thinly veiled warning to the opposition lawmakers who had chosen to stay away from parliament.
Read also: Different personnel to handle Kenya’s presidential re-run
“My government will not tolerate anyone intent on disrupting our hard-won peace and stability. Under no circumstances must Kenyans ever allow our free competitive processes to become a threat to the peace and security of our nation,” he said, to foot-stamping and cheering from ruling party legislators.
“We shall continue to encourage vibrant democratic competition; we shall not allow destructive division.”
Last week, Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati revealed that key personnel for Kenya’s presidential re-run have been appointed meaning that different staff will be in charge of the Oct. 17 re-run of the presidential election.
Chebukati revealed in a statement that it had appointed for three months a project coordinator and officials to run the information technology, logistics, operations and training as well as the national tallying centre during the re-run.
RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears
Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...