Nairobi News

The Civil society of Kenya has asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to publicize the polling stations that will not use technology to relay the results of the August 9 general polls.

A statement signed by among 0thers Transparency International Executive Director Sheila Masinde, Mulle Musau Mulle, the National coordinator Elections Observations Group (ELOG), Franklin Mukwanja who is the Executive Director Center for Multiparty Democracy (CMD Kenya), and Caroline Gaita, the Executive Director Mzalendo Trust shared concerns on what they said are pending matters ahead of the polls.

They also inquired on whether the IEBC undertook audit of the existing kits before purchase of any  ones.

“The Commission announced that close to 1,111 polling stations are out of 3G and 4G coverage and will employ the use of satellite modems to transmit presidential results from these stations.,” the statement reads in part.

“In the spirit of accountability, we call upon the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) to confirm these numbers and explain to the public why this is the case. Similarly, we urge the Commission to make public the names of these polling stations.”

The statement added: “Audit of the voters’ register is of prime interest to electoral stakeholders. While we commend the Commission for instituting this audit, we are concerned by the lack of adequate involvement of electoral stakeholders in this process and in particular.”

IEBC recently postponed the certification of voter register owing to pending issues. This is after a preliminary report revealed the register contained 266,465 of deceased voters, 481,711 duplicate records, 226,143 invalid identity cards and 164,269 invalid documentations.