By Ngumbao Kithi

Indigenous residents of Coast Province will get priority when Kenya’s elections regulator hires polling agents for the region.

The move is an attempt by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to dissuade voters from boycotting the General Election, a key demand of the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council (MRC).

However, IEBC chief executive officer James Oswago said the commission was responding to concerns of local leaders and not specifically MRC.

The IEBC official said they plan to waive some of their professional and educational requirements for polling officers in the rest of the country to ensure Coast residents get jobs at the elections. He said without

this, there might be a challenge identifying enough local people in many areas including those outside Coast Province, to man polling stations.

Oswago added that the commission is aware MRC has sued the Government for banning it, but said the IEBC wants to build trust with locals to ensure they participate in elections which is their right under the Constitution.

The banned group has been agitating for Coast to secede from Kenya under the slogan Pwani si Kenya (Coast is not part of Kenya).

“I have directed our IEBC officers in the region to ensure the demands of locals are met to stop the mistrust that exists between us,” he said.

Most leaders in the province are said to be sympathetic to the MRC, which has been hostile to the commission and is suspected to be behind attacks on its officials in various parts of the region.

“Manning of polling stations will involve people from Coast Province to ensure fairness,” said IEBC chief operating officer James Oswago in Mombasa on Wednesday, where the electoral authority has been on a charm offensive against the separatist MRC.

complaints

Oswago maintained the move by IEBC is in response to complaints by local leaders that indigenous residents are marginalised whenever State jobs become available. 

The outlawed MRC has been accused of disrupting IEBC’s mock polls in Malindi in March, and attacking its offices in Kwale last month but the group denied involvement in the crimes.

“We have brought down some of the requirements to employ some officials (from the region) for the IEBC, We are doing this to appease local leaders,” he said.

“My second headache is how to establish whether those applying for IEBC jobs are genuine local people,” Oswago told The Standard.

The IEBC is still discussing the best way forward to ensure those recruited are indigenous to Coast to avoid conflict.

“We have agreed on the proposal, but my only agony is how to get the right people for the IEBC jobs and stop the mistrust between the local leaders and the IEBC,” he said.

He acknowledged that although MRC members were not in the stakeholder meeting, the local leaders and some non-governmental organisations have demanded the Government lift its ban on the group.

“Asking the Government not to outlaw MRC is not part of our mandate,” said the IEBC official.

ask for help

Oswago also announced that the commission is determined to raise at least Sh24.5 billion for the general election with the help of donors.

This is after Treasury said it can only allocate the electoral body Sh17.5 billion and was backed by Parliament’s Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC).

Addressing journalists at the Royal Court Hotel in Mombasa, Oswago said the IEBC had initially set a target of Sh25 billion to conduct Kenya’s first General Election under the new Constitution.

“We are going to open our arms and ask for donors to help us get the money to help us conduct the exercise properly,” he said.