Get enough BVR kits before voter registration, CORD says

Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) wants the electoral agency to shelve plans of conducting voter registration until they have enough registration kits.

They argued yesterday that a majority of the electorate were disenfranchised in the 2013 polls because of the inadequacy of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits.

But IEBC Communication and Corporate Affairs Manager Tabitha Mutemi said the commission was concerned with the allegations.

"The commission is utterly concerned and takes great exception to some of the allegations. The commission is currently carrying out stakeholder engagement with political parties in Naivasha and will issue a comprehensive response to CORD's statement," Mutemi said in a statement sent to newsrooms.

Senator Moses Kajwang' (Homa Bay), Eseli Simiyu (Tongaren), John Mbadi (Suba) and Fred Outa (Nyando) said IEBC must ensure the kits are used per polling station and not per ward as has been indicated by the commission. "IEBC has done nothing to procurekits to cover all polling stations in the country and is still stuck with just 15,000 BVR kits, whose status nobody knows. The commission is not ready even for the voter registration," said Simiyu, adding: "It is our position that if IEBC is experiencing genuine challenges with mobilisation of resources for this vital exercise, they must demand funding from Supplementary Budget."

CORD demanded that IEBC state if the exercise will be electronic and to state the condition of the kits, as voters cannot rely on the ones used in 2013.