NASA demands fresh audit of voter register after SMS query flaws

A file photo of a voter verifying his details with IEBC officials at Moi Avenue Primary School in Nairobi. /MONICAH MWANGI
A file photo of a voter verifying his details with IEBC officials at Moi Avenue Primary School in Nairobi. /MONICAH MWANGI

The National Super Alliance has demanded a fresh audit of the voters register which will be used in August polls.

The team wants IEBC to crosscheck its data against that of the Integrated Population Registration Service which has the latest information on the Kenyan population.

Salim Lone, who is NASA flag bearer Raila Odinga's adviser, said on Friday that the register which was opened for public scrutiny on Thursday is flawed.

"Voters who died as far back as 2013 are still in the register," he said adding top IEBC officials are losing grip of their ability to deliver a credible election.

The Opposition further demanded that a dry run of all electoral materials be done to avert situations like the system failure in the last election.

Citing errors in the SMS verification which irked many Kenyans on Thursday, NASA said there is a valid reason to review the register.

Lone also asked the electoral agency to release the KPMG report on the audit of the register as required by law.

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NASA further accused IEBC of quietly reinstating director of ICT James Muhati who was suspended for interfering with the voters register.

"Muhati should remain on suspension until the chair gives account on investigations against him," Lone said.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Thursday dismissed claims that the audited register of voters has wrong entries.

Chairman Wafula Chebukati said the complaints about curious feedback

are unfounded and misleading.

"We have noted with concern some social media reporting that borders on deliberate misinformation on the actual state of the register of voters."

He said the electoral agency will restrict itself to the use of biometric identification of voters during the August 8 general election.

Chebukati also said in his statement that the accuracy of the 2017 register is based on the verification conducted between May 10-June 9.

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"KPMG USED TO HIDE GHOST VOTERS"

ODM, a party led by Raila, dismissed IEBC's assertion

that the voters register was effectively audited to weed out ghost voters.

The Orange party said the register still has millions of dead voters and accused Jubilee of using influential figures within the electoral agency to manipulate it.

“ODM has received disturbing reports of continued manipulation of the register by active collusion of a number of IEBC officials and two key state agencies,” secretary general Agnes Zani said at Orange House in Nairobi on Friday.

Zani added that KPMG was used to cover up ghost voters in the register to influence the outcome of the election in President Uhuru Kenyatta's favour.

“Specifically, we demand the audit report be made public - names of those expunged from the register, the criteria used... A PDF version for every polling station and an amalgamated register for every constituency should be sent to ward and constituency offices countrywide and be made public and accessible to voters."

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Zani said NASA has identified abnormalities in the register and will make its findings public.

“In Embu, four constituencies which are Manyanja (82,356), Runyenjes( 86977), Mbeere South (71,603) and Mbeere North (51,009) have 291 945, but the IEBC gives

total votes as 309,468. We have an extra of 17,523 votes," she said.

“The IEBC says Tana River county has 118,327 total votes but if you add Garsen (46,819), Galole (33,356) and Bura (32,182) you get 112,182 votes. Around 5,970 votes are ghosts.”

The Nominated Senator added the Opposition will not take part in an electionwhich is not free and fair.

“Elections must be about respecting the choices of the people. Let not the outcome of this election be manipulated to favour a few,” Zani said.

“The party dismisses assurances by IEBC officials that it doesn’t matter what comes out of their own processes of voter verification where Kenyans have confirmed the existence of their dead family members. Some who passed away 15 to 20 years ago are still in the register.”

The party urged the AU, EU, UN and other observer groups already monitoring the process to take note of the new developments on the voters register.

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