NAIROBI, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan authorities on Monday beefed up security across major cities and towns amid opposition protests to press for reforms in the electoral commission tasked with conducting Oct. 26 fresh presidential polls.
Several anti-riot policemen were mobilized in Nairobi and other towns to help contain the mass protections seeking for the removal of some Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials and proposed election laws amendments.
In Kisumu, the security forces fired teargas to disperse violent protesters in some residential estates as the National Super Alliance (NASA) protests began its countrywide demostrations to press for the reforms.
The residents who carried a banner written "Chiloba Must Go" (IEBC chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba) engaged the police in running battles as they retaliated by throwing stones at the IEBC offices.
In Mombasa, the protesters marched along the streets peacefully as they chanted, "No reforms, No elections' as anti-riot police placed at strategic positions to ensure law and order is maintained.
In Nairobi, some protests barricaded some roads in residential estates as they chanted anti-IEBC slogans. The police engaged them in running battles to prevent them from reaching the city center.
The anti-riot police officers interviewed in Nairobi said they have put all measures in place to ensure that the businesses are not disrupted in the city.
"We have been ordered to stay in strategic places to respond to any lawlessness especially when the protesters provoke us or disrupt the normal running of businesses in the city," one of the officers told Xinhua.
This is despite the NASA leaders led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, who maintained that the protests would be peaceful.
On Sunday, President Uhuru Kenyatta warned the opposition supporters against causing chaos ahead of the repeat presidential poll slated for Oct.26.
Through his spokesman, Manoah Esipisu, Kenyatta said that NASA's hardline stance on the election was hurting Kenya, indicating that he bears a constitutional responsibility of making the country safe and peaceful.
"We seem oblivious to the fact that we are courting violence," Kenyatta said, noting that he would not let democracy be weakened by individuals who prefer threats instead of dialogue and peace.
"Recently, however, we have seen more than odd behavior. Sections of the opposition political class are acting as though they, not our independent institutions, make and interpret the rules. The rest of us have to conform our actions to the rules; but for them? It is the rules that have to conform to their actions," he said.
According to Kenyatta, the United Nations Program on HIV/Aids (UNAids) had already cancelled Kenya's hosting of a two-day global prevention coalition meeting on Oct. 10 due to political tensions in the country.
The global HIV prevention coalition was set to convene its inaugural meeting to launch a results-based roadmap with a clear set of commitments and actions for scaling up prevention programs and reducing new infections.
"On Thursday last week, Cabinet was informed that UNAIDS had now cancelled Kenya's hosting of a global prevention coalition meeting scheduled for Nairobi on October 10-11, informed by the perception of uncertainty fuelled by those who wish to see anarchy reign," Kenyatta said.
The opposition is also protesting the government's move to amend the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Elections Offences Act by giving manually transmitted results more clout than the electronically transmitted ones.
"The rules of the game should be agreed by all players. They should be fair and justifiable. Jubilee Party is arrogant," NASA-led lawyer James Orengo said.
Orengo said the bill was an example of what Kenyatta termed as "fixing" the Judiciary if he wins the October 26 repeat election.
Under the proposed amendments, the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati will be stripped off his power as the sole returning officer in a presidential election.
The ruling Jubilee lawmakers also want to scrap the requirement that the IEBC chairman's qualifications be the same as those of a Supreme Court judge, opening a window for any member of the commission to assume the role in the chairman's absence.
Through the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017, that was formally introduced in Parliament on Thursday, the legislators also want to expand the definition of the position of IEBC chairperson to include the vice-chairperson and any other commissioner in the absence of the two.
"Chairperson means the chairperson of the commission appointed in accordance with Article 250 (2) of the Constitution and, in his absence, the vice-chairperson, or such other person acting as the chairperson in the absence of both the chairperson and vice-chairperson," the Bill states.
The current chairman is the only lawyer in the seven-member commission with over 15 years' experience in legal practice. The constitution requires that IEBC chairman must be a lawyer.
Jubilee has also introduced a separate bill, the Elections Offences, 2017, which imposes a five-year jail term on electoral officers, found to have breached the law.
According to sections of the proposed new laws, the IEBC would be required to livestream the election results but those livestreamed results would not form the basis of declaring the winner, but only for public consumption and the results would be declared manually based on paper returns.
Chebukati has opposed the amendments, saying the changes to the election results, would upset the preparations for the Oct. 26 presidential elections, if it introduced a new "framework."
The IEBC says it has been training its senior officials on how to manage activities at the polling centers ahead of the vote, using the existing laws and a new change would bring confusion days to the repeat.
