George Munene And Wanjiru Macharia
6 October 2008
Nairobi — Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua has called for an overhaul of the electoral system.
She said only comprehensive reforms would address problems that have been rocking the elections over the years.
"Piecemeal reforms can't solve rigging and other irregularities that have been witnessed during elections for many years," she said.
The minister defended the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) against accusations that it was responsible for last year's flawed polls.
Being biased
She said contrary to the impression created by critics, the ECK was not to blame for the irregularities.
She said the Kriegler Commission categorically stated that the election was not rigged at the Kenyatta International Conference tallying centre, and accused the electoral body's critics of being biased.
"Those calling for the resignation of ECK commissioners are not honest and they should stop peddling false accusations to satisfy their egocentric interests."
Rigging, she said, was done at the constituencies level by some leaders of political parties and individual Kenyans.
"There was bribery and rigging of the polls at nominations and during the elections. In some cases political parties cleared candidates which were not nominated to vie for various political posts and ECK was not involved in the mess," she said. She was speaking at Rukenya Anglican Church in her Gichugu constituency over the weekend.
Constitution
Elsewhere, assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri yesterday accused leaders talking about the presidency in 2012 of not being committed to delivering a new constitution.
He said it was clear that those aspiring for the top post and their cronies were sure that Kenyans would be using the current Constitution, even after the next five years.
Mr Kiunjuri was speaking at Kampi ya Moto Secondary School when he officially commissioned a community borehole.
"It is shameful for the leaders to forget what they promised the people and put their interests first," he said.
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