Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati assumed office at a time when the Opposition had raised the red flag on the issue of voters sharing identification cards.
It was not an issue he could quietly shunt aside, especially when identification cards for Wiper leader Kalonzo and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga had been used to register other voters.
This played into the Opposition’s earlier claims the Government was planning to pre-determine the outcome of the August 2017 General Election; coming after the passage of the contentious Electoral Laws (Amendment) Bill 2016.
At a press conference yesterday, Chebukati acknowledged that 128,926 people share identification card numbers. This is a matter of great concern since the figure could be higher.
Raila further claims the National Intelligence Service is recruiting Ugandans and Ethiopians to shore up Jubilee numbers. Such claims may be spurious, and the Government has challenged Raila to provide evidence.
However, voters who may not be privy to propaganda that attends elections could take this to be the gospel truth, setting ground for unnecessary friction the country can ill afford at the time. Chebukati’s team must come out clearly to address these concerns. Political posturing has polarised the country along political and ethnic lines.
Leaders themselves do little to hold the country together by resorting to vernacular at FM radio stations and rallies and to dispense half-truths and outright falsehoods that do not bode well for the country. This, in part, has led to voter apathy as many people fail to take up the call to register as voters.
This apathy is symptomatic of despair and fear of what might come out in August. IEBC, according to Chebukati, will not meet their target of registering 6 million voters. This must jolt our leaders to change tack in their push to register voters.
