Bomas of Kenya on Monday, May 23, 2022
The Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Wednesday, June 9, announced that it would delete more than one million names from the voter register.
In a statement by IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati, he disclosed that a preliminary report by KPMG, the company contracted to audit the register revealed that 1,118,588 voters were invalid.
These include deceased voters, those with registered more than once, voters registered using identification cards (IDs) that did not belong to them and those who registered with invalid documents
"The Commission received a preliminary audit report with useful information, including 246,465 deceased voters, 481,711 duplicate records and 226,143 voters registered with IDs that don’t validly belong to them, 164,269 registered with voter records with invalid IDs and passports," read the statement in part.
Chebukati further declared that the commission had postponed the publication of the voter register from May 9 to June 20 to implement the findings of the preliminary report.
"Due to implementation of preliminary audit findings on the register, the Commission has decided to address the findings prior to certifying the register for publication on or before June 20, 2022," he noted.
The IEBC Chair pointed out that KMPG would submit the final report of the audit on Thursday, June 16, and subsequently engage the stakeholders of the General Election on June 17.
While receiving clearance to contest for the Presidency, Azimio flagbearer Raila Odinga and his UDA counterpart William Ruto asked the electoral body to publish the voter register.
The revelation by Chebukati came a week after the Deputy President, while holding a meeting with ambassadors from the European Union, alleged that one million voters from his strongholds were missing from the register.
"Almost 800,000 names, about one million names have somehow disappeared from the register. Many of those names are people from what we consider our strongholds so there is a clear attempt to try some monkey games," the DP claimed.
However, the presidential presiding officer dismissed the claims, noting that the commission was independent and focused on delivering a free and fair poll on August 9.
Weighing in on the matter, Chief Justice Martha Koome noted that all processes running to the elections should be done in a manner that promotes and ensures the complete and accurate and franchise of eligible voters.
