IEBC to go on with planned audit of voter register despite Cord's opposition

The electoral commission Friday said it will go on with the planned audit of the voter register, even after spirited opposition from the Cord coalition.

Siaya Senator James Orengo had earlier this month warned the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) not to proceed with the audit, saying the current team had no legal capacity.

The senator, along with his Meru counterpart Kiraitu Murungi, co-chaired the joint parliamentary select committee that sealed the IEBC commissioners’ fate.

The Issack Hassan-led team of nine IEBC commissioners have negotiated an exit package and will leave office once a new team is selected, possibly by December.

“The outgoing commissioners have no legal competence and cannot constitute the commission as their numbers and appointment are now outside the legal framework. They cannot act in the capacity of commissioners,” Senator Orengo told commission chief executive Ezra Chiloba in a letter.

“The secretariat is, therefore, walking in a minefield that includes the arbitrary arrogation of the constitutional responsibility and authority of the commission,” Mr Orengo said.

But yesterday, the commission said it is putting its house in order in readiness for the August 2017 General Election, and the audit will be the first thing to be done.

“Eleven firms, who responded to the expression of interest [request], are being evaluated and those who meet the requirements will be invited to respond to a request for proposal,” IEBC said in a statement sent to newsrooms.

The commission said it was also developing an information communication technology framework that will soon be presented to Parliament.

“The Commission is receiving public comments and contributions on the proposals to be included in the ICT regulations,” IEBC said in the statement.

The audit, ICT policy and engagement of stakeholders are part of the IEBC’s fulfilment of the 2016 Elections Laws (Amendment) Act, which led to the exit of the Hassan team.

Besides the ICT framework policy, the commission said it was also working on an Elections Results Management Framework (ERMF), as the pressure to get it right in the 2017 polls increases.

Both documents are now on the IEBC website for public input, the commission said.

“The purpose of the ERMF is to ensure that the processes of counting, tallying, collating, announcing, transmitting and declaration of election results is transparent, verifiable, secure and undertaken in accordance with the law,” said the IEBC.

The IEBC was blamed for a shoddy job in ICT in the 2013 elections when its equipment failed to identify voters, and also remit results as had been planned.

Last week, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi called for the integration of the audit of the voters' list with data from the Registrar of Persons.

“We should retrieve voters’ register from the Registrar of Persons data. It will save the country billions of shillings in the so-called voter registration. It will eliminate double registration and ghost voters,” said Mr Mudavadi.