The IEBC today explains to Parliament how it will fix its mistakes from 2013, and spend Sh45 billion to ensure a credible election next year.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission CEO Ezra Chiloba will appear before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to present a roadmap on the agency’s preparedness. The Samuel Chepkonga-led committee on Thursday will also meet IEBC chair Issack Hassan and commissioners.
The commission is expected to explain the financial constraints it says it faces. The IEBC said it intends to use the cash for vote tallying and results transmission technology. The commission had earlier said it would use Sh30 billion for election preparedness activities and Sh15 billion to cater for the commission’s operations.
The IEBC has started preparing infrastructure to avoid a repeat of what some termed a bungled election in 2013. Speaking to the Star on the phone yesterday, commissioner Thomas Letangule said the IEBC is “more ready than ever”.
He said it is putting ICT systems in place to improve transmission of results from the constituencies to the national tallying centre. “I can tell you this authoritatively because I chair the committee. We have started putting down our ICT systems and we are working on our servers to improve the 2017 election,” he said.
Letangule said it has established an Election Operation Plan which details day-to-day events the commission will undertake until the election day. “We have already audited our previous machines and we are yet to know whether there is need to acquire new gadgets,” he said.
The meeting with MPs today and on Thursday will give the commission an opportunity to present its concerns.
According to the IEBC, one of the failures in the 2013 election was the late delivery of electronic voter identification devices to polling stations. It says this time around, it will send out the EVIDs in good time. The commission also intends to conduct a mock election in August to test the transmission of the devices. “This involves mass testing of election gadgets to ensure we are adequately prepared,” Letangule said.
The commission is conducting voter registration in Lamu, Malindi and Kericho. The IEBC says it will also conduct another mass voter registration drive next year. Some MPs from both the Jubilee government and the opposition have raised concerns about the commission’s reputation.
Cord has called for disbanding the agency and threatened to boycott the poll if this is not done.