President Uhuru Kenyatta could be on a collision course with the IEBC over use of state resources to campaign.
This follows a directive by his Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua to all Principal Secretaries in the ministries to provide a four-wheel drive vehicle each towards Jubilee campaign.
In the urgent confidential memo dated October 16, Kinyua directed the PSs to hand over the vehicles-preferably Prados to Interior PS Eng Karanja Kibicho.
The Interior PS will in turn deploy the vehicles-which should be in good working condition to Jubilee campaigns.
“The government urgently requires strong and reliable 4WD vehicles for immediate deployment to various parts of the country,” read the memo in part according to Daily Nation.
It added: “In this regard, each ministry is asked to immediately surrender one 4WD vehicle preferably a Prado.”
It is a breach of the law to use state resources to campaign.
Section 14 of the Elections Act states: “Except as authorized under this Act or any other written law, a candidate, referendum committee or other person shall not use public resources for the purpose of campaigning during an election or referendum.”
The Elections law further calls for a fine of upto sh2 million or a jail term of six months for anyone found to be using state resources to campaign.
The law also allows the electoral commission to disqualify a candidate from the race if he/she breaches this law.
NASA Presidential candidate Raila Odinga in his election petition at the Supreme Court had accused Uhuru of using state resources to campaign.
Though the polls were nullified, the Supreme Court did not indict the President for use of state machinery I his campaigns in the run up to August 8 polls.