NASA has withdrawn their presidential candidature ahead of the repeat polls that are slated for October 26th. Addressing the press at Okoa Kenya offices in Nairobi, NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga said the standards required still haven’t been met and the requirements they tabled haven’t been addressed, “We at NASA have insisted that fresh elections be held at the standard ordered by the Supreme Court in strict conformity to the constitution and written law.” Raila said all signs show the October 26th polls will be worse than the previous elections.
The opposition leader said the list of requirements they had wasn’t disputed by anyone, adding that the recommendations made by EU observer mission conformed to NASA’s proposed requirements and list of irreducible minimums.
The NASA leader, who was flanked by running mate and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula and ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, said changes must be made and elections should be free and fair, and indicated that Jubilee leaders aren’t in agreement with that, “Proceeding with polls without changes being made because of time constraints is unstoppable. Jubilee is of the view that ‘Bora uchaguzi’, meaning any election will do, yet we at NASA are calling for ‘Uchaguzi bora,” he affirmed.
He further castigated IEBC for not showing any desire to accept reforms, “We have come to the conclusion there is no intention on the part of IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel to ensure illegalities that led to the invalidation of the 8th August results do not happen again,” he said.
On the proposed amendments to the election laws, the ODM leader said Jubilee leaders have shown that they have no intention of competing on a level field, “Jubilee are just interested in winning the polls,” he said. It remains to be seen what will be the next move, especially the reaction from President Uhuru Kenyatta and Depuy President William Ruto, with only two or so weeks remaining before the set date for the polls.