NADCO Hands Raila Win In Push To Have 2022 Election Servers Opened

The Azimio la Umoja coalition was handed a significant victory as the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) recommended in its final report the evaluation of the 2022 general election process.

In the 296-page report obtained by Viral Tea released on Saturday, November 25, NADCO recommended that the leadership of the majority and minority coalitions shall appoint a panel to evaluate the 2022 electoral process within 21 days of the adoption of the report by Parliament.

The Panel shall jointly appoint a reputable firm or a consortium of firms to undertake the evaluation. If there is no agreement on the joint appointment of a firm, each side of the panel shall appoint a reputable firm to undertake the evaluation.

The two firms shall coordinate the evaluation process. After the conduct of the evaluation process, the Panel shall harmonize the findings of the two firms and submit the harmonized report to Parliament.

"With respect to the evaluation of the electoral process under Article 88(4) (h) after a general election, the Elections Act, 2011 be amended to provide for the scope of the evaluation, financing, and reporting," the report highlighted in part.

The evaluation of the 2022 elections was a hot potato heavily championed by the Azimio side as they have time and again asked for a forensic audit of the 2022 presidential election.

They had also proposed the audit be made public so that Kenyans could know the 'truth' about the elections.

Regarding electoral legal reforms, the committee had recommended that Electoral laws should be enacted at least 18 months before a general election.

Furthermore, NADCO recommended that Parliament amend the Elections Act, 2011 and the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission Act 2011 to repeal the various provisions of the Acts that were declared unconstitutional by the court.

The committee also recommended amendments to the Constitution of Kenya to increase the timelines within which the Supreme Court shall hear and determine a petition challenging the validity of a presidential election to 21 days.

Currently, the Supreme Court has 14 days after the filing of the petition to hear and determine the petition, a matter it submitted in its proposals that the timeline had proved to be difficult to fulfil.

"The time was limited and strenuous to the Court. In an attempt to achieve the same, the Court had delivered verdicts and reserved reasons only to be accused of lack of accountability from the public. The Court averred that it was necessary to have ample time to hear and determine such petitions without deferring reasons for its decision," the proposals by the apex court captured in the report read in part.

The apex court had recommended that the Constitution be amended to extend the timeline for hearing and determining a presidential election petition from 14 to 30 days to enable the Court to give reasoned decisions.

In terms of holding elections on different dates, NADCO recommended that the IEBC conduct a comprehensive review of the past three general elections with a view to recommending to Parliament the viability of staggering the elections.

On voter registration and maintenance of the voter register, NADCO recommended that the IEBC shall within six months upon reconstitution undertake a comprehensive audit of the voter register and publicise the results as per law.

"The Elections Act, 2011 be amended to align the terminology in the Act and the provisions of Article 88(4) (f) of the Constitution in relation to the responsibility of IEBC to register candidates for election," added the report.

The Committee further recommended that the IEBC shall within one year of its reconstitution submit to Parliament the Election Campaign Financing Regulations.