Jubilee says manual count chaotic as IEBC clears air on elections Bill

 

Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju [Beverlyne Musili, Standard]

A parliamentary Bill that was supposed to cure ills of election mischief by reintroducing manual transmission of votes has now united President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee, his deputy William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga in fighting it.

This is even as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) issued a statement, saying the media misrepresented the intention of the Bill.

Jubilee Party joined Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance and Raila’s ODM in disowning the Bill described as retrogressive. Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju said the party would not “support any law that would allow election rigging”.

“That Bill is brought by the IEBC and not Jubilee. We will not support any Bill that negates the Constitution and the gains that have been made. Jubilee rejects proposed amendments to the Elections Act,” Tuju said on Inooro FM.

The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 wants the IEBC allowed to declare election results from physically delivered forms, unlike in two previous elections where all results were transmitted electronically. The proposed changes would also touch on the steps of the presidential election results transmission. Presiding officers would be required to send images of the results to the national tallying centre and then personally deliver the results to the constituency returning officer.

It has, however, drawn sharp criticism from the August House. The House has united to condemn any attempt to revert the election law to an old regime that favoured irregularities.

Siaya Senator James Orengo said a results transmission system needs to pass the test of accuracy, security, accountability and transparency.

The method used in elections, he said, must meet the constitutional threshold of an electoral system that is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable and transparent. “The manual method cannot attain these standards, including the prompt announcement of results,” said Orengo.

His was a similar view to Suna East MP Junet Mohammed's, who said supporting the amendment would be taking the country back to the manual system of tallying which is open to manipulation.

“The country has invested heavily in an electronic system. We can only improve on it but not revert to the manual,” he said.

But Majority Whip Emmanuel Wangwe believes the IEBC has looked at the issues and come up with a solution. “IEBC has looked at the concerns raised in 2017 and felt that if we can alter and change it to a better position, as it is proposed in the Bill, it will cure the challenges,” Wangwe said.

Commissioner Abdi Guliye explained IEBC’s intent during an interview on Citizen TV.

The electoral commission said, in a statement released on Friday, that the media was wrong on the intention of the Bill.

“The media reports are erroneous and a misrepresentation of the Bill as tabled before Parliament. The Bill does not propose an amendment to Section 44 of the Elections Act that provides for the deployment of an Integrated Elections Management System for voter registration, voter identification and result transmission,” the commission said. “It proposes a complementary mechanism for result transmission to address instances where transmission of results is not possible owing to lack of 3G network.”

Guliye said once results are sent, electronically, “we will share those results with the stakeholders, including media. Once the original results have been verified, the commission will update Kenyans on the outcomes of the various presidential contestants.