Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party members will march to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) headquarters on Wednesday, October 9, to have the election body respond to various queries.
The party is demanding that the updated voters register to be used in the Kibra by-election scheduled for November 7.
On Tuesday, October 7 during a press conference, Suna East MP, Junet Mohammed, confirmed that they had reached out to IEBC to solve the matter, only to be shut down by the Wafula Chebukati-led commission.
"ODM has written to IEBC more than four times requesting for the updated voter's register but the commission has remained mum. Our supporters expect vigilance on our part even as they wait to do their duty at the ballot and it is for this reason that we want to notify the IEBC that we shall be marching to their offices tomorrow at 9.am in the morning.
"We shall not leave the said offices unless and until we are supplied with the official updated register to be used in the Kibra by-election," Mohammed stated.
"What we are asking for is not outside the law. State officers are required to be transparent," Suba South MP John Mbadi added.
According to Mohammed, ODM demands answers on four issues. They want IEBC to provide a full list of all persons registered as voters in Kibra Constituency by 2017 General Election, to provide a full list of all persons registered as voters since 2017 to date including the dates and centres of registration.
They also demand that the election agency provides full details of all those registered on transfer since the declaration of vacancy to date, specifying the constituencies which their votes were transferred from and to provide the full updated manual and electronic register of voters which will be used in the Kibra Constituency by-election on Thursday 7th November 2019.
"With three weeks to the by-election, and there being no commitment by the Commission to provide the updated voter register requested by the party, we are left with no option but to question the motive behind the hide and seek game that we are being subjected to.
"It is this unwillingness by the IEBC to conduct elections strictly in accordance with the law that breeds suspicion and leads us to start believing rumours doing rounds of secret meetings between top IEBC officials and some Jubilee senior officials which are not limited to attempts to alter the voter register," Mohammed stated.
The Kibra by-election voter register became a bone of contention ever since Jubilee's candidate McDonald Mariga entered into the Kibra race.
Mariga was, on Monday, September 16, cleared by IEBC to vie for the Kibra Parliamentary seat.
Mariga's candidature for the Kibra by-election had been marred with controversy after the Kibra returning officer declared that his name was missing in the voter's register.
While delivering the commission's dispute resolution committee's decision, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati confirmed that Mariga was a duly registered voter having made the registration on August 26, 2019, at Kariokor upon which he was issued with an acknowledgement slip.
However, reports alleged that IEBC was divided over how it conducted the invalidation McDonald Mariga's candidature after the chairman Wafula Chebukati and the Returning Officer Beatrice Muli differed.
On September 10, Chebukati and two other commissioners ignored advice from their own legal and ICT team and ordered the returning officer, Beatrice Muli, to clear Mariga.
Video, courtesy of MKN.
