IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati. [Photo|kenyans.co.ke]
The electoral agency has been challenged to formally gazette the date of the next general election.
By doing this, the IEBC will clear the air and correct the 'wrong' perception that the polls will be conducted in 2022.
According to statistician Mungai Kihanya, the next election will be conducted in 2021; not in 2022.
In his column on Sunday Nation, Kihanya says the 2022 view is based on simple math that 2017 + 5= 2022.
However, if that logic is applied to the date of the last election, he observes that the logic does not seem to work.
"The first election under the new Constitution was held in 2013, therefore, since 2013+5= 2018, so the second one should have been held in 2018. The question then is: why did we hold a General Election in 2017?" he poses.
He says the poll was conducted in 2017 because the Supreme law dictates the elections should be held 'on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year'.
"For that reason, holding the General Election in August 2018 would have been illegal. That month will be in the sixth year," he notes.
About the next poll after 2017, Kihanya says: "Now, if we go to the calendar of the year 2022, we find that August 7 will be a Sunday. So the second Tuesday in August 2022 will be the 9th. This month will be in the sixth year. Unfortunately, that will have exceeded the five-year limit."
"For that reason, we must go back to August 2021. We find that the 7th will be on a Saturday, so the first Tuesday in August in the fifth year will be the 10th; and the second one will be on 17th. Therefore, the date of the next General Election will be August 17, 2021," Kihanya notes.
Is there a newsworthy accident, incident or event happening in your county that you want Hivisasa to cover? Tell us what is happening by joining this group and have it published.