By Geoffrey Mosoku and Peter Opiyo
Enforcement of strident integrity laws and academic qualification as a
precondition for running in elections will not apply for the March 4
exercise as had been expected.
This is because it now turns out that Members of Parliament connived to
suspend parts of the Elections Act that provided for the academic
qualification, and watered down legislation meant to operationalise
Chapter Six of the Constitution on leadership and integrity.
The changes MPs made were buried in the raft of alterations they passed
as a package under what in parliamentary parlance is called an ‘Omnibus
Bill’.
Consequently, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)
will not vet aspirants on integrity issues as Kenyans had demanded in
the current Constitution, including delving into their past.
The commission will also not ask nominees gunning to be MPs, senators
and women and county representatives for their academic qualifications.
The demand that you must be armed with a university degree now only
applies to those seeking to be governors.
Political parties were informed on Monday that persons seeking positions
in the National and County Assemblies would not be required to provide
any academic papers before being cleared to contest in the elections.
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