Home » Media Centre » Blogs » On the Suggestion of an August 2013 Election Date
Before the issue of the election date became thoroughly confused, I would hazard a guess that most Kenyans had expected that the elections would be held in the month August 2012 as per the constitutional provisions which require that elections be held “on the second Tuesday in August, in every fifth year” i.e. Articles 136 (2) (a), 177 (1) (a), and 101 (1).
However in spite of the clarity of the clauses in the constitution the issue of the date of the next election has been the subject of contention almost since the day the constitution was promulgated. The contention began when MPs raised the fact that though they had been elected in 2007, because of the post election violence, they had not been sworn in to office until January 2008 and for this reason elections could not be held in August 2012, as they would not have sat for their full term. To bolster their argument MPs citied:
Article 9 (1) of the Sixth schedule of the constitution which provides for the first elections after the promulgation of the constitution to be held within 60 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly at the end of its term; And Article 10 of the same schedule which provides that “the National Assembly existing immediately before the effective date shall continue as the National Assembly for the purposes of this Constitution for its unexpired term.”
At the time, the Commission on Constitution Implementation (CIC), the body charged with overseeing implementation of the constitution, held that in their reading of Article 101 of the constitution, the first general election under the constitution would be held on the second Tuesday of August of the fifth year namely, 2012. However in spite of the CIC declaration, the Cabinet went ahead a proposed a bill to amend the constitution, to have the election date changed to a date in December 2012.
Since then the election date has been the subject of court proceedings, which resulted in no definitive answer on the exact date of the next election. The Supreme Court declined to give an advisory opinion on the date of the next election and ordered the High Court to making a ruling on the election date, citing the High Court’s primary role of hearing constitutional matters. The High Court in turn ruled that date of next election was a matter for the President and Prime Minister to decide. The failure of the two premiers to give a definitive election date lead the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to declare that the next general election would be held on 4th March 2013.
Though the March date is further away then expected, I think most people were glad about the clarity and decisiveness that the IEBC showed in announcing a definite date for the next election. However according to Daily Nation some MPs have proposed that the election date be moved to August 2013, arguing that the IEBC is not ready to hold elections on 4th March 2013, given the delay in awarding the Biometric Voter Registration tender, and the mapping of the 80 new constituencies. A suggestion that sounds ludicrous, as the IEBC has not expressed an inability to keep to the 4th March 2013 date.
In any event it is time for the other arms of government to check the excesses of the MPs particularly when it comes to the extension of their term. Unless issue of the date of the election is firmly settled, it seems to me that same issues will arise at every election.
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