ODM, ministry differ on diaspora numbers
IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba (centre) leads staff members in launching the month-long campaign to register six million new voters ahead of the August election. The launch was held at Lilian Towers in Nairobi on January 15, 2017. He has said Kenyans in the diaspora will vote in the coming elections. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The Foreign Affairs ministry is still holding on to data requested by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
- IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba on Thursday said the commission is working on modalities of registering Kenyans abroad as voters.
A row is brewing between the opposition and the government on plans to register Kenyans in the diaspora as voters.
The Foreign Affairs ministry is still holding on to data requested by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
On Thursday, the Orange Democratic Movement demanded the suspension of the registration — expected to begin in February — saying the numbers could be used to manipulate the elections.
The party’s director of elections Junet Mohammed asked IEBC to clarify the figures involved.
“We cannot be part of political manipulation. The ministry talks of three million voters while the actual figure is 100,000,” Mr Mohammed told the Nation.
He added that the government is registering illegal immigrants in the US and issuing them with passports.
He also questioned the reasons behind the extension of Kenya’s ambassador in the US Robinson Njeru Githae’s contract by three years.
IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba on Thursday said the commission is working on modalities of registering Kenyans abroad as voters.
He also said it could establish more diaspora polling centres away from embassies.
A study done for the Kenya Diaspora Alliance has shown that as many as eight in every 10 citizens abroad prefer electronic voting to the manual system since it is convenient and eliminates the need to travel.
IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe Kwamboka said the agency is still looking into ways of creating more polling centres.
“In my experience as a member of the diaspora, I would have said we go for electronic voting. As the law stands, we must cast paper ballots,” Dr Kwamboka, who until her appointment worked for the UN in New York, told reporters at the launch of the report in Nairobi.
