ODM leader Raila Odinga and his Amani counterpart Musalia Mudavadi have accused the Jubilee administration of working with the outgoing IEBC to rig the 2017 elections.
The two leaders Friday claimed there was a pre-election rigging scheme akin to that of 2013, adding that it portends no good for the country.
They said Kenyans are not ready for another sham election “whose results are being determined now, long before any vote has been cast.”
“There are signs that the Jubilee administration, in collaboration with the sacked IEBC officials are working overdrive to pre-empt the will of the people next year through a number of underhand ways.”
They cited the delays in the implementation of time-bound processes meant to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections as well as the appointment of the KMPG to audit the voter register as some of the concerns.
The delays, they stated, have occasioned the continued stay of the Isaack Hassan-led team in office.
“As these delays have persisted, the sacked and discredited commissioners remain in office, using their extended stay to tilt the electoral infrastructure in favour of Jubilee through acts of omission and commission,” Raila and Mudavadi said in a joint statement.
They at the same time accused the commissioners’ rationale to appoint KPMG to audit the voter register, noting that the firm has no known experience with voter-related audit.
“How it won the contract remains everyone’s guess. It has been hired as a user-friendly firm to do the bidding of Jubilee and discredited IEBC commissioners who have a score to settle with Cord.”
They also questioned the voter register, methodology, parameter and standards to be used in the audit.
“Nobody knows what the methodology, parameters and standards are against which the audit will take place. In essence IEBC plans to audit its own register in an opaque manner known only to itself and against the spirit of the negotiated settlement. Kenyans know that IEBC has several registers that were used in the rigging of the 2013 elections. IEBC knows it too. As KPMG is being appointed to audit the register, nobody knows which register is being audited.”
They added that the audit is set to take place without the biometrics of voters which is part of the requirement in the negotiated law.
They wants the audit conducted after voters have confirmed that they are in the register so that the confirmed register becomes the master register.
“All these processes have proceeded with the exclusion of the technical committee on ICT whose involvement is part of the new election laws.
“As these illegalities continue, IEBC commissioners have engaged surrogates to move to court and challenge the negotiated election laws and particularly the provisions that voting be done through an integrated technological system.”