IEBC officials arrested for trying to destroy 16 ballot boxes

Three people among them two presiding officers in Embakasi, Nairobi are reportedly being held for attempting to destroy 16 presidential ballot boxes used in the August 8 election.

The three were found in one of the halls of Embakasi Girls High School where ballot papers for Embakasi South constituency were kept after the General Election.

The 16 boxes were broken and unsealed when police officers and other officials went to survey the school.

But Dr Eroo Meli, the Nairobi County elections manager, said that the unsealing of the ballot papers was necessary so as to retrieve the results declaration forms in them.

SEALED BOXES

“When they erroneously sealed the boxes with Forms 34A and B, and we had to have the forms, as we had to present them for gazettement of the results,” Dr Meli told NTV on Saturday.

But former Embakasi South MP Irshad Sumra termed the exercise as a sham.

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“It is criminal. It is illegal. This is because according to IEBC laws, no ballot box can be opened after the declaration of results, unless by a court of law,” an agitated Mr Sumra said after the boxes were found on Saturday.

Mr Sumra said that the case will be used by the opposition at the Supreme Court to show what he says was rigging.