Updated Wednesday, July 10th 2013 at 16:38 GMT +3
By MOSES NJAGIH
KENYA: The Jubilee Coalition has urged their Cord colleagues to take responsibility for aiding their aspirant in the Makueni by-elections Kethi Kilonzo to abet in a crime of election fraud.
Jubilee senators on Wednesday claimed that it was the Cord leadership that coerced Kethi to contest and led her into committing fraud by illegally obtaining Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) registration documents to enable her contest in the July 22 elections.
Led by Majority Leader in the Senate Prof Kithure Kindiki, Jubilee rebuffed claims by former vice President Kalonzo Musyoka that TNA had deleted Kethi’s name from IEBC register, terming the utterances as a diversionary tactic to the serious crime of electoral fraud facing their candidate.
“We are shocked by the malicious and alarmist statement made by Kalonzo, which we feel is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the serious crime of fraud, forgery and a myriad other electoral offences which have been exposed,” said Prof Kindiki.
He said the Cord leadership should explain how security documents in the custody of IEBC were found with Kethi, even as they called on investigators to dig into the crime and prosecute those responsible for theft.
The Jubilee senators said that Kethi was a victim of intimidation and coercion by Cord leaders who eventually dragged her into crime, where she now faces the possibility of a jail-term.
“In Kenya we have a crime called handling stolen items and it is upon those found with these goods to explain how they got hold of them,” said Kindiki.
He added: “The onus of proof is not on the TNA and not even the IEBC. It is on the person found in possession of the documents”.
Terming Kalonzo’s assertion as careless and unfounded, the Jubilee senators challenged the former Vice President to provide evidence of his alleged criminality of TNA, failure to which he should offer an apology.
“It is shocking to see a person of the status of former VP stoop so low to utter things he knows are not true. He should have first apologised to Kenyans for misleading a young woman into a crime,” said nominated Senator Mrs Beth Mugo.
Mugo attacked Cord’s claim that IEBC was acting in the whims of IEBC, saying the election body was formed with full participation of the Cord coalition, then in Tenth Parliament as ODM.
She even claimed that the IEBC Chief Executive Officer James Oswago was a nominee of the ODM, and thus Cord should not act as if they were not involved in the creation of the electoral body.
She rubbished calls to disband the electoral body before the next.
“We cannot put up institutions and then disband them the next day simply because things have not gone our way. Reforms do not only mean a win for one person or party,” said Mrs Mugo citing a recent attack of Cord on the Supreme Court after losing the presidential petition.
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen accused Cord leaders of knowingly destroying Kethi’s reputation and shining legal career by driving her into crime ‘for simple political gains’.
“Cord forced Kethi to contest even after she had for many days declined as she knew she was not registered. But she was coerced, harassed and intimidated to enter into a race she was not interested in,” said Murkomen.
He added: “Cord should explain how they forced her to be part of this fraud, which has now ruined her career”.
The Jubilee Senators asked Kalonzo to also apologise to Kethi and the Makueni electorate for the acts of fraud.
“We heard Kalonzo say that he was very angry, but are wondering who was he angry at? As a Christian, the least we expect of Kalonzo is to accept to the wrongdoing and apologise,” said Mrs Mugo.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment