Groups: We’ll oppose plot to delay polls
The Elections Observation Group (ELOG) and Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), in collaboration with 15 civil society groups, have warned they will resist any attempt to postpone the August 2022 polls.
Groups insist that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) must implement the constitutional provisions on elections provided under Articles 3, 10, 81 and all other enabling principles.
“We demand that the elections must be held on August 9, 2022. To this end, we demand that IEBC must make the necessary preparations to enable the management and administration of the elections and desist from issuing conflicting signals and excuses on its preparedness,” said KHRC Executive Director Davis Malombe on behalf of the group.
Civil society-based organisations demanded that the electoral agency, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, Judiciary, Political Parties Dispute Tribunal and other electoral management bodies be adequately resourced to effectively deliver on their mandate.
They made the remarks after a two-day convention the National Dialogue Conference in Nairobi on Electoral Justice in Kenya co-convened by ELOG Coordinator Mulee Musau and Malombe among other partners.
While calling upon IEBC to facilitate an inclusive, timely, voter education, registration and verification exercise, the group challenged the commission to ensure the voter register is cleaned up and all the errors emanating as back as 2007 is addressed.
According to KPMG report, the electoral voters register in 2013 and 2017 had multiple errors, which compromised the integrity of the electoral process and outcome of the results.
Registered voters
Report further showed that IEBC did not have ‘centralised Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit records showing the serial numbers by location.’
Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa Executive Director George Kegoro said in 2013, the voters’ register was a contention at the Supreme Court.
“What IEBC did is to only change the colour of the Black book to Green but the errors have never been addressed.
The results could not tally with the number of registered voters in that book. IEBC must be serious in cleaning the register and have a verifiable system for the voters,” said Kegoro.
The electoral agency revealed that it is facing numerous challenges ahead of the 2022 elections, citing several legal hurdles.
