UN sends final message to IEBC, Uhuru and Raila
The ongoing impasse has crippled key economic activities in the country.
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In a joint statement to the press, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, have added a voice in the call for tolerance amongst Kenyans, as the country gears up for repeat polls.
“We continue to closely monitor developments in Kenya, in the light of the forthcoming presidential election,” the statement read in part.
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It added: “The Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the Commission express the United Nations’ and African Union’s commitment to assist Kenya in ensuring a credible and transparent process and upholding the constitutional process.”
The two unions are now calling for Presidential candidate Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta to reconsider their stand and engage on dialogues with the Wafula Chebukati led IEBC, to avert a looming crisis.
“In this respect, they call on all stakeholders to cooperate with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), as the constitutionally-mandated body to conduct the election,” Mr Guterres said.
The duo added: “The Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the Commission urge all political actors, parties and their supporters to create conditions for a peaceful election and refrain from any act of violence. It is critical that all concerned work towards the preservation of calm and peace in the country.”
The new message to Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta by the UN and AU comes in the wake of heightened uncertainty surrounding the possibility of a repeat poll as was ordered by the Supreme Court.
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On Sunday, Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga while in a Bungoma church maintained that there will be no elections on Thursday, while Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta maintains that Kenyans will be free to participate in the exercise the electoral commission’s chairman has expressed fears of failing to meet the credibility test.
Last week, IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe quit her job at the IEBC citing threats and frustrations from the Ezra Chiloba secretariat, who she said was soaked in a political turmoil.
Mr Kenyatta, on his part, held National prayers in Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium, urging all his supporters to turn up in large numbers to conduct the elections.
Amid her resignation from the IEBC, Dr Akombe faulted the UN and the AU for being silent on “Kenya’s looming crisis” after her intervention to save “the situation was shot down by well-connected politicians at the commission."
Despite his option to quit the race for State House, Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga quipped that he might consider his stand on the stalemate if the reforms he was pushing for at the IEBC could be effected before the voting day, now in three days’.
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