Allow IEBC to be independent

THE Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Saturday rejected an offer made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to supply free Biometric Voter Registration kits ahead of the March elections. All eyes will be on IEBC chairman Ahmed Isaack and his team to ensure that they deliver a free, fair and credible election.

Any perception that the IEBC is being influenced by any internal or external forces will greatly damage the outcome. The IEBC should be left to made decisions how they will deliver this. Nobody, including the Cabinet, should pressure or influence the commission as doing so will only confirm fears Kenyans always have every election year— the attempt by the incumbent to 'fix' the result of the election.

Whether the voter registration is done manually or electronically should not be the issue. It is whether the IEBC can stand up against these internal pressures, surmounts the challenges its facing and deliver a credible election which we can all be proud of.

Quote of the day: “In youth the days are short and the years are long. In old age the years are short and day's long," Pope Paul VI who issued the controversial Humane Vitae (Of Human Life)encyclical which prohibited all forms of artificial contraception, died on 6 August 1978.