by Bedah Mengo
NAIROBI, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Increased bickering among key players in Kenya's fresh presidential polls slated for Oct. 17 threatens to derail the crucial exercise expected to determine the future of the East African nation.
The wrangles are at two levels, first among political players set to square it out in the polls and second at the electoral commission.
Jubilee Party led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance (NASA), whose leader is Raila Odinga, have failed to agree on crucial issues on the elections, including the Oct. 17 date.
Odinga successfully challenged at the Supreme Court the naming of Kenyatta as the winner of the Aug. 8 polls, with the judges annulling the decision of the electoral commission and ordered for fresh polls.
While Odinga has dismissed the new date announced by the electoral commission noting NASA was not consulted, Kenyatta has insisted that polls would be held on the date.
"There would be no polls on Oct. 17. The electoral commission must consult all players before coming up with a date," Odinga said on Thursday.
Backing him were more than a dozen legislators from the NASA coalition who asked the electoral commission to change the date.
"The Gazette notice issued by the commission is not cast in stone. The election date can be de-gazetted," said John Mbadi, the chairman of ODM, one of the parties forming NASA.
On the other hand, Kenyatta and his Jubilee brigade accused Odinga of seeking to give conditions to the electoral commission, insisting the polls must be held on Oct. 17.
On Thursday, the electoral commission was set to meet the two sides of the political divide for a way forward but the meeting was postponed several times, with reports indicating the rivals had failed to agree on a common front.
Both Jubilee and NASA leaders have further disowned electoral commission officers set to oversee the elections.
NASA fired the first salvo, calling for the sacking of at least four officials involved in the bungled polls and indicted by the Supreme Court, a call the commission seemingly heeded by appointing a new team.
However, Jubilee leaders have rejected the new team claiming that there are known partisan officials in the group.
"After publication of the names of your election project team, we have received credible information that in the list are people known to be partisan," Jubilee Party's secretary-general Raphael Tuju told the commission in a letter Wednesday.
Electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati, however, dismissed the claim, noting politicians should not interfere with its work.
"It is therefore unacceptable for you to provide a list of staff that you direct should not be members of the project team," he said.
But even as the bickering on the political front continues, the electoral commission has been hit by a standoff among top staff over the elections, with some going to court to protect their jobs after they were faulted for presiding irregularities in the Aug. 8 bungled poll.
On Thursday, a leaked memo from electoral commission boss demanded a raft of explanations from the chief executive, including why his password was used to access the results transmission system and why satellite phones bought for 8 million U.S. dollars were not used to relay data from polling stations as it was supposed to be.
The memo widened the rift between the commission and the secretariat whose members had been suspended throwing preparations for Aug. 8 polls into disarray.
The business community has raised the flag over the ongoing standoff at the electoral commission and among the political players which has created uncertainty.
Mkenya Daima, a lobby of top businesspersons said Thursday that elections should be carried out without undue delay as uncertainty is hurting the economy.
The lobby noted that there is need for political stability and to secure investor confidence, the precursors for economic growth.
"This year the general election spreads over two quarters of the year and it is not clear when political tensions will ease. The prolonged uncertainty created by the elections is likely to slow down the growth of the economy in 2017," said Planning Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera on Thursday.
The uncertainly created by the ongoing standoff has also worried public transport service operators, religious leaders, ordinary citizens, parents and students alike as the latter prepare for exams.
"The electoral commission announced Oct. 17 as the date for the elections but we do not know if this will happen since NASA has rejected the date. Our students are preparing for national exams a week after elections, and this standoff is creating uncertainty since they may prepare and the exams are postponed," Willis Amurili, an accountant in Nairobi and a parent of a Form Four student, said Thursday.
