Bahati Member of Parliament, Kimani Ngunjiri, has alleged that Azimio la Umoja One Kenya's demand for the manual register was being pushed by government operatives under President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Speaking during an interview on K24 TV on Tuesday, July 12, the Deputy President William Ruto ally alleged that the aim of the manual register was to manipulate poll results given that the government was pushing to have its administrators man the polling stations.
He explained that Kenya Kwanza was opposed to the manual register over such eventualities.
"I have been in politics for 33 years and when it comes to the manual register, I know what I am talking about because it will be used badly especially now when the government is on one side and these people can be able to put up the machinery.
"We know that they are directing the chiefs and the sub-county administrators to man the stations. If they are using them and you bring a manual, then, that is the preparation of the government on how they are going to manipulate the poll. Elections will not be free and fair if we go through that channel," Kimani stated.
Further, he questioned why the Azimio team was so demandant in the quest for the manual register despite concerns raised by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
However, his Kenya Kwanza counterpart, William Kabogo of the Tujibebe Wakenya party differed with him stating that the electronic systems were more vulnerable as compared to the manual register.
Kabogo expressed that both factions would be affected if the electoral body only used the electronic system citing the malfunction of the KIEMS kits.
"If you walk into a classroom to vote and you have a voters card once you are checked with the biometric register and your name does not appear, what next? The backup that is there electronically should be the same as the one that has been checked, So, you will be checking the machines and it will still not be there
"If you are a registered voter, what is the other option you can be able to use to check. what is the big deal of having an electronic backup and a manual backup," Kabogo expressed.
IEBC led by Wafula Chebukati has in recent weeks indicated that the electronic voter register will be the main mode of identifying the voters. However, the Commission stated that it will have a backup to identify those whose fingerprints have eroded.
“This time we are saying instead of three kits as were the case in 2017 per ward, we have doubled them to six kits. If there is a total failure, we will replace the kits. If it fails, we will bring the third kit. Assuming all the kits are not working, that is the time when we can revert to a manual register,” Chebuklati stated during a briefing last week.
