The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is in the process of verifying signatures for the Draft Bill on the Referendum to Amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010 by Popular Initiative, 2015 (Okoa Kenya).
IEBC chairman Issack Hassan says that following negotiations with the National Treasury, the Commission received approval to proceed to incur expenditure in relation to the verification exercise.
Hassan says that the Commission has recruited 100 temporary clerks who will transfer the data contained in hard-copy Okoa Kenya booklets into electronic format.
He says the electronic data will subsequently be run against the database of registered voters for verification. The exercise will be supervised by a team of IEBC staff.
In a press release to newsrooms, Hassan says the final report is expected to be ready by the end of February 2016 and the Commission will be giving updates on the status of verification.
On the issue of the timelines, the Commission clarified that Article 257(4) of the Constitution does not set specific timelines within which the Commission must verify the signatures.
Hassan says time will start running upon the conclusion of the verification of the signatures and presentation of the Bill to the County Assemblies, in accordance with Article 257(5) of the Constitution.
“Contrary to reports appearing in the press in the recent past, the Commission would like to assure the public that it is diligently executing its Constitutional mandate. We would therefore like to urge that there be restraint from premature, alarmist or erroneous statements that could generate undue public excitement,” he said.
Hassan further announced that in the interest of transparency, the Commission will facilitate interested independent observers who may wish to participate in the process.
Ends.