Ekuru Aukot reads mischief in printing deal

Thirdway Alliance Kenya presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot has accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of printing the presidential ballot papers in secret.

He said that on Thursday, he visited Al Ghurair Press in Dubai to review the progress and found that about 95 per cent of the printing of the presidential ballot papers had been completed and packed ready for export to Nairobi

“By the time the observers reached the printing press at 3pm on July 27, work was almost complete. There was no agent therefore to supervise the printing, and we could not tell for sure that there was no mischief,” said Aukot.

He said there were no modalities to count or even estimate how many ballot papers had been printed.

Spoilt votes

“A rough count revealed there were less than 70 constituency pallets in the warehouse when we expected, at least, 250 pallets. The purpose of this mission was to count the ballot papers and not to see the impressive technology. We are yet to do that and verify at least how many pallets will be coming to Kenya.”

He said the Al Ghurair reported, under instructions from IEBC, that it had printed the required presidential ballot papers including an extra 1 per cent for every constituency to cater for inadvertently spoilt votes should a voter request an extra ballot paper.

But IEBC dismissed claims by the Third way Alliance of Kenya that it disobeyed the court order to halt the printing of the presidential ballots.

Even though the commission’s chair Wafula Chebukati in his earlier briefing at Bomas - IEBC’s national tallying centre, singled out collusion between political parties and ballot paper suppliers to print extra papers as a possible way of rigging, he dismissed Dr Aukot concerns.

“Aukot is not genuine to Kenyans. We held preliminary meeting where all stakeholders were invited. Elog, civil societies and representatives of presidential candidates were in attendance and reached an agreement on the security features and processes,” disclosed Chebukati, in response to complaints that the team in Dubai found the ballots printed 95 per cent.

“There is no ‘monkey business’. Every ballot will be accounted for” he assured.

The ballot monitoring team, including Third way Alliance held a meeting at Majestic Hotel, Dubai yesterday.

“We’ve run a sincere and transparent process. IEBC takes great exception to the statement issued by Dr Ekuru Aukot concerning the printing of the presidential ballot papers,” said Andrew Limo, the communication Manager.

Instructed

He said Third way Alliance’s application at the High Court led to the delays in printing the ballots, slated to start on July 18.

“After the court’s ruling, we immediately instructed Al Ghurair to start printing the ballot on Friday 22nd. At this point, we were not sure which presidential candidate would send monitors to Dubai. Some had actually expressed reservations in participating in the process.”

He added: “To suggest that this mission is ‘monkey business ‘in the printing of the ballot is dishonest and disingenuous on the part of Aukot and chief Agent Bildad Kagai. We have interacted with the two officials of Third way Alliance and the only conclusion to be made is that of conflict of interest in pursuit of commercial interests.”

He asked Kenyans not to focus non issues but on the forth coming elections.