Thirdway Alliance Kenya party leader Presidential Candidate Dr Ekuru Aukot and his running mate Emmanuel Nzai address the press in Nairobi, July 28, 2017. [Photo: @EAukot]
The Thirdway Alliance party of Kenya has raised questions, over how the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), carried out the presidential ballot papers, printing exercise at the Al Ghurair Press, in Dubai.Party leader Presidential Candidate Dr Ekuru Aukot, has said that his agents and members of the press who were sent to monitor and review the progress on the printing of the ballot papers on July 27th (which is yesterday), realised about 95% of the printing work for the presidential ballot papers had been completed and packed in various pallets ready for export to Nairobi. He said none of his agent supervised the printing, and they could not tell for sure that there was no mischief.He blamed the IEBC, saying there were no modalities to count or even estimate how many ballot papers had been printed. Addressing the press, Aukot noted that under instructions from IEBC, the Printer reported to them that it had printed the required presidential ballot papers including an extra 1 per cent for every constituency to cater for inadvertently spoilt votes should a voter request an extra ballot paper. "While IEBC pretended to consult stakeholders in the printing of presidential ballot papers, it's conducting mischief behind curtains."The presidential candidate indicated that the Printer and IEBC failed to seal all the pallets with a serialized seal from the Printer’s premises for the party agents at the Constituency headquarter to confirm before breaking the same, as requested."The Printer indicated that all the printing work will be completed by midnight of 27th July 2017 and the papers shipped to Kenya from Sharjah Airport in two charter flights. One departing on 30th July and the next on 1st August 2017," he said, Friday.He lamented that they were not able to establish how many ballot papers had been printed prior to the due diligence visit and further requested the IEBC to urgently and seriously consider the issues raised before elections day."Thirdway Alliance therefore concludes that much as we are impressed by the Printer’s capacity, quality and security features in the Presidential Ballot Papers, there remains serious gaps that can compromise the credibility of the 2017 Presidential General Election," added Aukot, in Nairobi.