Another Error Surfaces in IEBC Republished 2017 Election Report

IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati at the commission's office at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi in June 2017.
IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati at the commission's office at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi in June 2017.
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Barely a week after suffering embarrassment for an erroneous 2017 Election Report, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) exposed itself once again to ridicule after republishing what was supposed to be a rectified version, that introduced at least one error. 

On Friday, May 22, IEBC uploaded an amended version of the election report that erroneously indicated that Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu vied on a Wiper Party ticket.

Ngilu vied on a National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Party ticket in the 2017 General Elections and became the first woman governor in the Eastern region.

The error appeared under Chapter Two of the report that detailed the Gender Perspective in the 2017 General Election.

Kitui governor Charity Ngilu during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) meeting in Mombasa on January 25, 2020.
Kitui governor Charity Ngilu during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) meeting in Mombasa on January 25, 2020.
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IEBC, however, managed to get it right in the same document as they placed Ngilu on a Narc Party ticket when tabulating the Governor election results.

On Sunday, May 17, IEBC bowed to pressure from online trolls and pulled down the 2017 General Election report it had uploaded on Saturday.

The report indicated that Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo and the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth lost their parliamentary bids in the 2017 General Election.

Dagoreti South aspirant, Dennis Waweru was also reported to have won the seat after garnering 55,675 votes compared to the incumbent John Kiarie who got 12,708 votes.

Another error in the report was the omission of current Muhoroni MP James Onyango K'Oyoo from the list of candidates, with the winner declared as ODM Party's Francis Ogot Ong'elle who apparently got 50,080 votes.

The 2017 General Elections saw Ngilu elected as one of the first three female Governors in Kenya following the adoption of the new constitution back in 2010.

The former Lands Cabinet Secretary has had her fair share of battles with the Wiper-Democratic Party of Kenya leader Kalonzo Musyoka and it was baffling how IEBC made the error.

In the runoff to the 2017 General Elections Ngilu resisted pressure from Wiper party leader Kalonzo to fold her party.

Ngilu fended off strong opposition from the then Kitui Senator David Musila who was an independent candidate and Julius Malombe from the Wiper Party.

An image of IEBC Error
A screengrab of the IEBC Error in the Revised 2017 General Election Report.