Presidential candidates to meet Chebukati next week over voter poll
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has invited four presidential candidates to a meeting on Wednesday next week.
William Ruto (United Democratic Alliance Party), Raila Odinga (Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance), George Wajackoya of Roots Party, and Waihiga Mwaure of Agano Party will meet with IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati on the back of mounting protests over the controversial ban on the use of printed voter register on August polls.
Other agenda to be discussed will be the election results path and the harmonization of campaign schedules for the candidates.
“Please note that you may be accompanied to the meeting by not more than five persons,” the IEBC Chairperson said in a circular.
With the hopefuls having expressed concerns over areas they feel should be addressed, IEBC will be engaging them to avoid a repeat of 2017 where presidential results were declared invalid, null and void.
The electoral agency has been on the spot over its decision not to use the manual register during the August 9 General Election.
Seven civil society organisations moved to the High Court seeking to compel the Wafula Chebukati-led commission to use both manual and digital registers.
The petitioners are Kenya Human Rights Commission, Katiba Institute, Kenyan Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)-Kenya, Haki Yetu, Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi, Africa Centre For Open Governance (Africog), and Constitution and Reform Education Consortium.
Through their lawyer Fidelis Limo, the seven argued that IEBC cannot guarantee that its electoral technology will not fail on August 9.
“The second respondent (IEBC) arrived at the afore-stated administrative decision in clear violation of the provisions of the law and in particular Section 44A of the Elections Act which provides for provision of a complementary system of voter identification using the manual register of voters,” argued Limo.
According to her, the only guaranteed backup is a manual register that should correspond with the data in Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits.
The lobby groups argue IEBC has to date failed to comply with the 2017 Supreme Court judgment requiring it to ensure all polling stations are connected to a 3G/4G network.
“Further to the decision of the Supreme Court in the 2017 Presidential Petition No 1 of 2017, the first and second respondents have not taken any measures to guarantee that there is a working and reliable 3G/4G network connectivity and that technology shall not fail,” said Limo.
“The first and second respondents have not implemented the 2017 Supreme Court judgment at all.”
Candidates have also been pushing IEBC to clear the air on status of electronic identification of voters and transmission of results and integrity of the voters register.
They had tasked the electoral agency to avail audited register of voters and make the recruitment of returning officers and printing of ballot papers transparent.
