IEBC checks Okoa Kenya signatures

NAIROBI: The electoral team has started verifying names and signatures submitted for the Okoa Kenya initiative.

A team of 100 clerks and 25 supervisors have embarked on the process of scrutinising copy compiled by the Okoa Kenya team for the draft bill on the referendum to amend the law through popular initiative.

Chrispine Owiye, the team leader of the group working for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, termed the process historic.

He said the verification started last Friday and they are currently transferring the handwritten names into the system before they embark on the second stage, which will be to determine their validity. "So far, we have transferred 179,000 names and the average target for the clerks is 500 names each," said Mr Owiye.

The team is working with a budget of Sh20 million but Owiye said they would need more clerks to ensure they work within a short timeline. Okoa Kenya presented 1.4 million signatures to IEBC.