IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati confers with the CEO Ezra Chiloba during a press conference. [Photo/The Star]
With close to a month to the August 8, General elections the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has once again been on the receiving end concerning the voters registers with claims of a corrupt register trailing the independent commission.
IEBC holds the responsibility of ensuring Kenyans enjoy the services of free, fair and credible polls, however according to political analyst Kibisu Kabatesi the electoral commission is 'plays an expensive joke' that can lead the nation to the ugly scenes of 2007/08 post election violence.
Kabatesi claims that IEBC data on voters registered keeps shifting which raises question on the authenticity of the information passed to Kenyans.
"The commission initially put the number of dead voters struck off the list at 92,277 only for it to magically amend the figure to 88,602. This means 3,675 rose from the dead courtesy of the healing powers of the IEBC," said Kabatesi.
"KPMG recommended the IEBC harmonise its register with data from the registrar of births and deaths. Nothing yet," he added.
The analyst also placed IEBC on the spot again over inconsistent numbers in several polling stations adding that this 'man-made' errors creates a recipe for chaos.
"The IEBC website gives Embu county what appears to be the correct total of voters in Mbeere North and South, Runyenjes and Manyatta constituencies. However, the total of 309,468 has been inflated by 17,523. This adds up to be 823,581 votes across the 47 counties. The IEBC isn’t fumbling with addition but precipitating a crisis with illegally procured voters," he said
Finally Kabatesi called on the IEBC to be work with speed to reclaim the faith of the Kenyans on them before the August 8 polls by ensuring their numbers are consistent in every polling station or risk a flawed elections with harsh repercussion.
"The IEBC is legally required to publish a list of polling stations alongside registered voters in each station. Time is running out and the IEBC is scared its ever-multiplying, list of ghost voters embedded in an opaque register it wont share will be exposed," he added.