The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has dismissed claims of foreigners being registered as Kenyan voters ahead of August 8 general election.
In a press statement, the Commission said no BVR kits were in the hands of strangers.
The elections body said only eligible Kenyans were being registered in the ongoing mass voter registration exercise, which kicked off on January 16, 2017.
“Our attention has been drawn to the statement issued by Hon. Raila Odinga alleging that individuals who do not work for IEBC are registering foreigners as voters using Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits,” said Andrew Limo, IEBC Communications Manager.
“We would like to categorically state that no Commission BVR equipment is in the hands of strangers. We can account for all the BVR kits deployed for the ongoing MVR, the personnel operating them and the stations (gazetted registration centres) they are operating from.”
Limo said the voter registration process was being conducted in a transparent manner.
“…the process of registering voters is being done in an open and transparent manner. Once this open and transparent voter registration is completed, and as required by law, we shall make the register available to all Kenyans to verify its accuracy.”
He asked any person with information regarding illegal issuance of ID cards to non-citizens must proceed to report such cases to the relevant authorities.
Tuesday, Raila alleged that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was illegally registering voters from Uganda and Ethiopia with an aim of influencing outcome of General Election.
The Cord leader claimed that BVR kits were being taken to neighboring countries to have foreigners register as voters.
“We have credible information that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) is once again heavily involved in the on-going voter registration with the aim of influencing results in August in the same way it did in 2007 and 2013. NIS interference in the current voter registration involves taking BVR kits across our borders into Uganda and Ethiopia and assisting citizens of the two countries to register in a Kenyan election process,” said Raila in a statement.