Broke IEBC promises free, fair and credible general elections

 The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission will endeavour to guarantee Kenyans a free, fair and credible 2022 General Election devoid of irregularities, Commissioner Justus Nyang’aya has affirmed.

Speaking at the County Assembly of Embu during a consultative forum with Ward Representatives, the Commissioner however conceded that IEBC was broke due to a stifled budget for voter registration, cleansing of the voter register, civic education and conducting of the actual poll but clarified that the Commission would do its best to ensure there the voting process was clean.

During the meeting, County Assembly Speaker Josiah Thiriku and Runyenjes Central MCA Steve Steve Simba enquired if IEBC lacked adequate funds to deploy many Voter Registration Clerks across the country and why the Enhanced Voter Registration exercise had been restricted to only one month. He said signs of inadequate funding of IEBC was eliciting worry from candidates running for various seats.

While confirming that IEBC was indeed cash strapped, Nyang’aya described elections as a lengthy process and not an event; restating that the KSh 26 Billion allocated to the electoral body by National Treasury as opposed to KSh 45 Billion requested was a far cry from the amount needed to conduct thorough voter registration. He nonetheless declared that continuous voter registration at IEBC offices would go on.

Donor funding

Speaker Josiah Thiriku had earlier challenged the ‘broke’ IEBC commissioner to promise the County Assembly of a watertight electoral process where all candidates would feel comfortable with the outcome. He also urged the electoral body to consider appealing for donor funding to sponsor some of its operations.

Thiriku at the same time expressed fears that “a monster christened ‘Deep State’ was threatening to influence the outcome of the 2022 General Election. The Speaker claimed the use of Huduma Cards was one of the planned rigging methods. He said the chest thumping by some leaders who were overconfident of clinching victory in the Presidential Election was telling of elaborate plans to steal votes.

A confident Commissioner Nyang’aya who was flanked by Embu County IEBC Coordinator Daniel Lenarum nonetheless reassured the MCAs that the electoral body would not be influenced by ‘Deep State’ to sway votes in favour of any candidate. He said IEBC could not be infiltrated or its integrity watered down by coercion to overturn the outcome of elections.

The Commissioner stated that only identity cards would be used at the polling stations together with the Biometric Voter Identification Kits. He also explained that the ballot paper would have up to nine security features; four more than the Kenyan currency in a bid to avoid rigging.

Mbeti North MCA Peter Murithi observed that previous elections had been married by massive anomalies and added any slight mishap during the polls would be a recipe for electoral chaos. He therefore challenged IEBC to redeem itself from the tag of incompetence.

The leaders said they would hold IEBC accountable for any mess that would shroud next year’s elections.

STORY By MWINGI TIMES CORRESPONDENT, EDITED By MUSYOKA NGUI