We can’t afford an election with IEBC as currently constituted
What you need to know:
- Furthermore, the revelation that the IEBC does not yet fully own the Biometric Voter Register machines shows it does not have full control over the software. This puts the confidentiality of information on the BVR machines in jeopardy.
The damning audit report of blunders by the IEBC in the hotly contested March, 2013 elections now serves to vindicate the Opposition’s push for its disbandment. Kenyans can now confirm that they were led through an election by an inefficient commission.
The audit report mentioned that IEBC was aware that the voters register was faulty and so the commission did not know the actual number of registered voters. These, if my memory is right, were part of the evidence produced in court by Cord in its petition at the Supreme Court.
We cannot afford to go through another election with the commission as currently constituted. Some culpable heads must roll if we are to restore the confidence of Kenyans in the commission.
Furthermore, the revelation that the IEBC does not yet fully own the Biometric Voter Register machines shows it does not have full control over the software. This puts the confidentiality of information on the BVR machines in jeopardy.
Resignations are not exactly Kenyan, though, and Issack Hassan and his team will be sitting pretty, so other legal ways of shoving them out should be explored. Parliament is one possibility, but given the alacrity, nay tyranny, with which Jubilee has always defended the commission, we are not likely to see meaningful debate. This leaves the referendum.
TITUS PALA, Kisumu
