Chebukati Reveals Masterminds of Illegal Voters Transfer

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati atduring the voter transmision simulation exercise at the Bomas of Kenya on Thursday. June 9, 2022..jpg (3
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati during the voter transmission simulation exercise at the Bomas of Kenya on Thursday. June 9, 2022.
IEBC

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has now identified three suspected persons linked to the illegal transfer of voters ahead of the August 9 General Election.

IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati while addressing the media on Monday, June 20, dispelled fears that the system might have been infiltrated disclosing that the transfer might have been an inside job linked to three of their employees.

Without revealing their names, Chebukati announced that he had forwarded their names to relevant authorities to launch investigations and press charges against them.

The IEBC chair further stated that over one million voter transfer cases had been recorded in Nairobi, Mandera, Nyeri, and Wajir counties, among others.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati during the clearance of presidential candidates at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, June 6, 2022.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati during the clearance of presidential candidates at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, June 6, 2022.
IEBC

"We are actually finalizing investigations on about 3 officers and they will be apprehended to face the law and that should be done in the course of the week," Chebukati explained.

Deputy President William Ruto had raised complaints with the IEBC alleging that his strongholds were targeted in the illegal transfer of voters, which the commission sought to address the an audit of the voters register.

At the same time, IEBC CEO stated that 4,000 voters may also be prosecuted for having registered as voters twice from different polling stations.

"Individuals who have registered more than once with IDs and passport numbers and ideally I would classify them as crooks. Out of that, we have managed to handle 59 per cent of the recorded 4,757 voters," noted IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan. 

He added, "there were 226143 records that do not match with the National Registration Bureau and the Department of Immigration Services. Meaning that there were IDs and passport reference documents that matched with the National Registration Bureau and Department of Immigration Services  but the names recorded in our database and the other database were not agreeing."

Marjan however revealed that IEBC has resolved some of the cases that were raising concerns in the voter register.

246,265 dead voters have also been expunged from the voters registers in a clean-up exercise done in collaboration with audit firm, KMPG.

According to the audited data, the August 9 polls will see the highest number of polling stations yet, as well as registered voters. Chebukati detailed that a total of 46,232 polling stations have been registered in 2022, an increase of 13.08 per cent from 2017 where 40,883 polling stations were registered.

The number of registered voters has also risen from 19,611,423 to 22,120,458 equivalent to 12.79 per cent.

"The Commission is pleased to announce that the audit of the ROV [Register of Voters] has been completed by KPMG and the final report submitted to the Commission on 18th June 2022. The Commission, based on preliminary audit findings shared by KPMG, implemented some of the recommendations and it is in the course of finalizing the few remaining ones," IEBC chairperson explained.

According to the data made public by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the number of eligible voters has also increased from 25,212,096 in the last election to 27,857,598 this year. 

Diaspora and prison voter registers also recorded a drastic rise. However, the number of youth aged between 18 – 34 registered in 2022 is equivalent to 39.84 per cent, a decline of 5.27 per cent in 2017. 

The number of female youth has declined by 7.75 per cent, while the number of male youth has declined by 2.89 per cent. This has raised concerns about the youth's involvement in making national decisions, especially during elections.

An image of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marjan Hussein
An image of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marjan Hussein
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