Atheist Society of Kenya asks Kenyans to be removed from IEBC voters' register

IEBC officials in Ngo'mbeni Kwale County on March 15 get details of voters. (Photo: Courtesy)

The Atheist Society of Kenya has asked Kenyans to sign a petition to have their names removed from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) voters' register.

The atheist society is targeting 100,000 people to sign the petition before it can be forwarded to the IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, on August 31.

According to atheism activist Harrison Mumia, many Kenyans are unhappy with how the electoral commission conducted the General Election because the exercise was not free, fair and transparent as was indicated before the polls. He also wants the process on August 8 to be audited by an independent body.

“We are persuaded that many Kenyans have lost trust in the IEBC and have a right to have their names expunged from the voters’ register,” he said.

“It is our position that the events before, during and after the elections did not lend themselves to the conduct of a free, fair, credible and transparent elections. We therefor demand for an audit of the entire process by an independent auditor.”

251 Kenyans have already signed the petition that was posted online shortly after the declaration of the presidential elections results on Friday last week.

Those who have signed say that the IEBC, led by Chebukati and CEO Ezra Chiloba, did not convince Kenyans that President Uhuru Kenyatta won the election in a free and fair manner.

“The election wasn't fair and credible as per my view. One cannot start winning from the start to end without change and a difference of 11 per cent from the word go. Secondly deploying police officers to kill innocent Kenyans, children, men and women is not acceptable,” Esther Achieng Omolo wrote.

“I would like to join the movement [for] getting our names from IEBC (voters’ list). I took six hours voting and that seemed not to work,” Moses Njeru said.

The link where one can sign the petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iebc

While announcing the presidential results, Mr Chebukati, said that Uhuru had garnered 8,203,290 votes, representing 54.27 per cent of the votes cast, while the Opposition leader Raila Odinga came second with 6,762,224 votes, representing 44.74 per cent of the votes cast.

In total, 15,073,662 people cast their votes, representing 78.91 per cent of the registered voters, an increase from the 2013 polls.

The President also got more than 25 per cent of the votes cast in 35 counties, while Raila got over 25 per cent in 29 counties.

The other candidates had less than one per cent of the votes cast. Mr Joseph Nyaga got 42,259 votes, Mr Abduba Dida got 38,093 votes, Dr Ekuru Aukot 27,311, Mr Japheth Kaluyu got 16,482, and Prof Michael Wainaina got 13,257 while Cyrus Jirongo got 11,705.