Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chair Wafula Chebukati on Friday asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to investigate poll officials in Garissa County over allegations of electoral misconduct.
In a letter to the DPP, Chebukati stated that they had received a report from election observers indicating that some of the IEBC officials from Garissa County could have filled inaccurate election results.
"Of particular concern to the Commission are specific allegations that some of our electoral officials in Garissa County; Garissa Township constituency, Galbet County Assembly ward, ASK showground polling station.
"The officials supposedly knowingly filled and filed returns which they knew to be inaccurate or did not believe to be true; and or otherwise colluded or acted in a partisan manner to give an advantage to a candidate and or political party.
"The allegations if substantiated would be in violation of Section 6, of the Election Offences Act," Chebukati's letter read in part.
[caption caption="File image of IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati and DPP Keriako Tobiko"]
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Following the allegations, Chebukati called on the DPP to move in and investigate the matter adding that those found guilty of any crime should be prosecuted.
"We, therefore, invite your office to undertake investigations in respect of these allegations and subsequently institute a prosecution in respect of any and all officials found culpable or complicit," Chebukati stated.
IEBC made the move following a report released by Civil society group Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu that highlighted a number of anomalies in the votes tally.
The group noted that it had deployed 2,000 observers in 44 counties to monitor the repeat presidential election.
“We noted unexplained differences between the biographic and biometric lists of voters, unexplained increases in the register after registration closed, the presence of over a million dead voters in the final register and serious data gaps in the reference documents used to create the register.
[caption caption="File image of IEBC bosses consulting"]
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“That total is not the total of all votes cast. It is actually the sum total of his announcement of candidates’ aggregate valid votes. Using his individual county results, the total number of valid votes is 7,716,107,” the report read in part.
