The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has suspended elections for gubernatorial positions in Mombasa and Kakamega Counties after errors were found on the ballot papers for the respective positions.
Continue reading Gubernatorial elections suspended in Kakamega and Mombasa CountiesTag Archives: Wafula Chebukati
IEBC makes new changes ahead of Tuesday elections
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has agreed to use the manual register in polling stations after months of push and pull.
In an address to the press on Friday, August 5, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati noted that the process of distributing the manual registers had started.
The last-minute changes followed a ruling by the High Court requiring that the electoral body incorporates the manual registers into its operations.
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Initially, IEBC had maintained that it would only use KIEMS kits in its operations.
“We shall now deploy the printed register of voters at the polling stations where the names of the voters shall be crossed out after identification of voters using the KIEMs Kit.
“The Commission commits to adhere to the rule of law and will facilitate the realisation of political rights of Kenyans as is capitulated in Article 38 of the constitution in order to deliver a free, fair and credible election,”
announced Chebukati.
He further explained that register contained all the details of the voter ranging from the photo and ID number among others.
“It has two levels of usage; it will be crossed out at the same time with verification by the biometrics and also as complementary if the KIEMS Kit fails,”
Chebukati added.
The announcement succeeded a ruling by the High Court, which revoked a decision by the IEBC to exclude manual registers.
In July, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya led by former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, had threatened to boycott the election if the commission excludes the use of the printed register.
Raila, at the time, stated that the IEBC must embrace both manual and electronic voter registers and if they do not, there would be no election on August 9.
He insisted that both registers must be accessible due to alleged attempts to sabotage the upcoming election.
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“With a manual register, it will be easy to tell how many people have voted in every polling station. In the electronic register, there is no record that remains.
“That is why we are saying that there must be a manual register at every polling station, it is not negotiable. We are telling the IEBC they must have a manual register along with the biometric identification of voters on that day; failure to which, there will be no election,”
he argued at the time.
DP William Ruto takes new move over alleged plans to rig elections
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate, William Ruto, has written to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman, Wafula Chebukati, over alleged plans to rig the upcoming General Election.
In a letter dated Saturday, July 30, and made public on August 3, UDA national chief agent, Abraham Kithure Kindiki, implicated President Uhuru Kenyatta in a scheme to use public officers to interfere with the electoral process.
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Kindiki argued that police officers and national government administrators were being used to compromise the August 9 votes in favour of Azimio La Umoja’s Raila Odinga.
“We have received credible information that the Office of the President is deploying police officers to intimidate and harass voters to support the presidential candidate for Azimio,”
Kindiki’s letter read in part.
He further alleged that the government had resorted to voter bribery by deploying administrators on the election date to compromise voters in Kenya Kwanza strongholds.
“We have also reliably learnt that the public officers may be deployed by the state to induce voters and in some cases intimidate them by compromising the peace on the election day.”
The outgoing Tharaka Nithi Senator accused the Head of State of committing an electoral offence, not only by publicly endorsing a presidential candidate but also by allegedly using state resources to fund his campaign.
“Section 16 of the Public Officers Ethics Act (2003) requires complete political neutrality by all public officers and prohibits them from acting as agents for or furthering the interests of a political party or candidate in an election,”
Kindiki argued.
READ ALSO: IEBC issues statement on disappearance of 3,000 KIEMS kits
Ruto wants the Chebukati-led Commission to launch investigations into the reports arguing that it may undermine the credibility of the August 9 polls.
On Wednesday, August 3, the President, while on a tour of Kisii, termed the recent complaints by his deputy as kicks of a dying horse after realising that his presidential bid was in turmoil.
He likened Ruto to a driver of a bus who had an untrustworthy conductor who deviated his attention from the road. He added that the ‘driver’ ends up losing control and lands the vehicle in a ditch.
Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang’i, has also exonerated himself and his Principal Secretary, Karanja Kibicho, from accusations that they were the masterminds of buying national ID cards and distributing inciteful pamphlets.
IEBC issues statement on disappearance of 3,000 KIEMS kits
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has denied reports that 3,000 KIEMS kits have gone missing.
In a statement dated Wednesday, August 3, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati – in response to concerns raised by the Kenya Kwanza faction and the Azimio la Umoja brigade, reiterated that the reports were misleading.
Chebukati indicated that it was the BVR kits that had disappeared and that they were only used for the registration of voters in past elections.
Further, the electoral body downplayed fears that stolen KIEMS kits can be used to manipulate poll results insisting that they had put in measures to prevent such incidents.
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“This report is false and misleading. The Auditor General’s report made reference to BVR kits and not KIEMS kits. BVR kits are used for voter registration and not voting. The Commission procured 15,000 BVR kits in 2012 that have technically reached the end of life.
“The Commission keeps an inventory of all its kits and in the event of any loss, the kit will be blocked from doing any transaction on the system,”
read the statement in part.
Additionally, the Chebukati-led agency insisted that the Form 34’s – used for tabulating presidential results cannot be tampered with given the special features they had put in them.
“These measures include but are not limited to visible and invisible security features, polling station data personalization, barcodes and QR codes.
“IEBC in partnership with the National Police Service has deployed armed security to guard ballot papers in transit and at the respective warehouses,”
he stated.
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However, the Electoral body stated that discrepancies on the presidential results form can only be resolved by the presiding officers at the polling station or the supreme court.
“Complaints with respect to the results announced at the polling station must be resolved by the Presiding Officer.
“Any complaints or discrepancies that may arise in the results Form 34A can only be resolved by the Supreme Court through a Presidential Election Petition pursuant to the decision in Raila Amolo Odinga & Another v Independent Electoral and BoundariesCommission & 2 others (2017)”
Chebukati stated.
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