5 IEBC Officers Fired Over Voter Transfer As Chebukati Confirms Use Of Manual Registers

The High Court’s recent decision to allow a manual register to be used in the elections on August 9 has been welcomed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

In a news conference on Friday, IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati announced that the commission would distribute manual registers to the voting locations around the nation in accordance with the court’s ruling before the elections the following week.

“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,” said Chebukati.

“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.”

Chebukati explained that the manual register in question is the digital printout and would be availed at the polling station for use alongside biometrics and both as a complementary mechanism.

“Manual register has all the details, the photo, ID number…full details of the voter excluding the biometrics. It has all the details as per the KIEMs Kit and will be used as per the judgement of the Court of Appeal and the High Court,” he remarked.

“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 said the commission was dedicated to upholding the constitution and honoring the court order, despite understanding the hazards connected with the printed register that the commission had already identified.

“The commission must follow the laws of the land. We don’t make our own law, in fact, part of the reforms we sent to the parliament was around the amendment of these provisions in terms of the printed register but they didn’t see the end of the day,” the IEBC boss noted.