The Star 10/27/2017

A joke over the bill for refreshments earned Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen the wrath of several NASA leaders yesterday. They chased him away from the Panafric Hotel during a live press conference. The Senator was confronted by Mathare MP Anthony Oluoch, who interrupted the briefing by removing the microphones from the stands. The leaders engaged in a scuffle and bitter exchange of words after Murkomen insinuated he was going to settle the bill for a group of NASA MPs, who were relaxing at the hotel after holding their own press conference. Murkomen said on live TV that Kenyans should not fight on behalf of politicians, yet the political leaders remained friends and even shared tea. He said, as a matter of fact, the MPs who had just held a…

UHURU KENYATTA Promises to unite Kenyans President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto yesterday promised to unite all Kenyans after the “divisive” repeat presidential election. The two spoke separately after voting. “Campaigns are divisive and it is the responsibility of whoever is elected President to deal with those divisions, to heal and bring the country together,” Uhuru said. See page 8. ADEN DUALE Says NASA is like al Shabaab NASA will not be allowed to operate after it was transformed into a national resistance movement, Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has said. “Having changed from a political party to a resistance movement, NASA joined the ranks of Mungiki and al Shabaab,” the MP said. He said the only way one can ascend to a political seat is through the ballot.…

A section of NASA MPs yesterday said the decision by the IEBC to postpone the election in the Nyanza region amounted to ethnic profiling. The MPs, led by Suna East Mohamed Junet, addressed the press at Panafric Hotel, Nairobi. They claimed IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba was interfering with the repeat presidential election, yet he had said he was on leave. Junet said Chiloba made several calls to IEBC officials in the counties to give them directions on how to conduct the presidential election. “We are also concerned by the decision by the commission to postpone elections in parts of Nyanza to create an impression there was voting in other parts of the country. This decision amounts to ethnic profiling, which is discriminatory and unconstitutional,” Junet said. He was accompanied…

KENYANS on social media are pressing Chief Justice David Maraga (pictured) to account exactly for where Supreme Court justices Jackton Ojwang and Smokin Wanjala were on Wednesday that they could not attend the court hearing. Maraga told the court and the public that the two were unable to be in the court during the hearing of the case that was seeking to stop yesterday’s repeat presidential election because they were “unable to attend”. Some also want to know which part of the country Justice Njoki Ndung’u was in as Maraga said she was out of Nairobi and could not fly back in time. To most Kenyans, it amounted to absconding duty and Maraga, who is the President of the Supreme Court and head of the Judiciary, should come out clearly…

Three people were killed yesterday as the IEBC was forced to postpone voting in four NASA stronghold counties following day-long battles between police and protesters in the polarising presidential rerun. Voter turnout was very low, especially in Nyanza that includes hotspot Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori and Siaya counties. Voting there, which mostly failed to take off, has been put off to Saturday when they are expected to become secure armed camps. There were gunshots, hurled stones, burning tyres and barricades and blocked roads. Some protester used a pot of bees to block a road. Others smeared human faeces on a polling station. At least two dozen people were injured, a number with gunshot wounds, some beaten by police. Many IEBC officers failed to show up for fear of their lives.…

A nation’s destiny depends upon the people’s freedom to elect leaders who will fulfill their aspirations and determine the direction their country will take. That goal, which ushered in the dawn of democracy in 2002, now lies in tatters. Like everything else Jubilee has touched. That is why we have seen in the last few days an outpouring of additional support for NASA’s cause, which is built on creating peace and security rather than tension, instability and human suffering that Jubilee’s lawlessness has plunged the country into. Buoyed by that support, NASA yesterday launched a national campaign of unprecedented scope that will mobilize Kenyans to restore the cardinal values of democracy and the rule of law. As was recognized in our 2010 Constitution, that goal can be reached only through…