At least 40 per cent of prospective voters turning up for listing in Nairobi are applying to change their poling stations, the Star has established.
This detail emerged just days after a bloody clash in Kariobangi – with disclosures that politicians allied to both Jubilee and Cord are financing the mass voter transfers.
IEBC boss Ezra Chiloba told the Star that at least two out of five applicants in the city are seeking to change their poling stations, raising questions about possible voter importation.
“Voter transfer is not illegal. But the transfers should not be motivated by an incentive. Otherwise it defeats the very essence of democracy,” Chiloba said, adding that a thorough probe was underway.
It is time Kenyans started a debate whether proof of residence should be re-introduced in law as a condition for registration, Chiloba argued.
Cord has claimed that Jubilee is importing voters from around Nairobi to influence the 2017 city polls – especially after Deputy President William Ruto declared that Jubilee would take over the Nairobi governorship “come what may”.
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“This problem began after Ruto went to some church and declared that they must find a way of taking over the leadership of Nairobi as the Jubilee Coalition,” Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang’ said.
Makadara MP Benson Mutura did not deny the voter importation claims, only insisting that Jubilee want to make a clean sweep of Nairobi seats because “they are the major stakeholders”.
Embakasi South MP Irshad Sumra (ODM) yesterday admitted that he was aware of voter importation, saying up to 600 voters were being ferried to the city on a weekly basis.
“Jubilee is bringing voters to Nairobi from Kiambu, Thika and Juja, while Cord is bringing their supporters from Kangundo and Machakos," Sumra told the Star.
Last month, Ruto vowed Jubilee will unseat Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero by all means.
“Hatuwezi kuwa tumeshinda kura ya Rais wa Kenya na tukose kushinda kura ya Gavana wa Nairobi. Hiyo haiwezekani. This time round, liwe liwalo, juu chini, kushoto kulia, lazima tupate hii kura ya Gavana wa Nairobi,” Ruto said.
Earlier Ruto had told members of his Kalenjin community to “stop herding cows in the village” and register as voters in Nairobi.
Several Jubilee bigwigs, among them Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja, Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko and ex-CS Anne Waiguru, are eying Kidero's job.
During the interview, Chiloba strongly denied claims that the National Youth Service was doing a parallel voter registration exercise.
The ICT Directorate assembled 200 Canon printers and 200 BVR kits, erased the data and reformatted the hard disks before handing them over to the Youth, Planning and Gender Affairs ministry, he said.
“The kits that were then fitted with software for use by the government in the Civil Service head-count and other biometric purposes by NYS are not in any way connected to the Commission’s system or ongoing voter registration,” Chiloba said.
Last week, Cord paraded six people, some of whom are captured in the IEBC database as fully registered but are allegedly yet to register for the first time.