IEBC blamed for low voter registration

By Augustine Oduor

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is now on the spot for failing Kenyans on voter registration.

The Commission is now being asked to take responsibility for not planning early enough for the voter listing exercise that has threatened to lock out many Kenyans.

And the blame has come from, Dr Ekuru Aukot, who chaired the IEBC selection panel that proposed the names of the persons best suited to execute the mandate of the election body.

Speaking on Thursday, Aukot said he is “really disappointed” in the team that his panel selected to steer forward and execute the mandate of the election body.

He said Article 88 under Chapter seven of the constitution says the process should be continuous and blamed the IEBC for not planning early enough for the exercise.

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He ruled out procurement of the BVR kits as an excuse for the delayed start of voter registration noting that the Commission should have begun the process early enough.

When we are talking about the quality of elections then we are also talking of the quality of logistics. The risk we have now is the uncertainty of the voters roll we are being given right now,” he said.

“All these things accumulatively will they roll give us a qualitative election? I am disappointed because things could have been done in a very good time with proper planning,” he added.

Aukot was speaking on the sidelines of a Teachers Service Commission forum in Mombasa where he took the 47 County Directors through the constitution and the relevant clauses to their services.

The concern comes a few days after IEBC warned Kenyans who have not registered that once the deadline expires there would be no extension.

The commission further dismissed politicians who have been agitating for an extension.

IEBC Chairman Isaack Hassan maintained that there was no threshold required by law for the country to go to the polls, arguing that it is only in a referendum where 60 per cent of eligible voters must be on the roll.

IEBC recently announced that 8.6 million Kenyans had registered as voters.

The Isaack Hassan-led commission worried that they would not met their target of registering 18 million Kenyans as voters.