IEBC must be above reproach

The decision by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to cancel the controversial biometric voting register system was a no brainer. The cloud hanging over the procurement process and the suggestions made that it was an attempt at rigging the next general election in advance is something that the IEBC could not have been comfortable with.

It is this perception that needs to be changed. The IEBC, like Ceasar's wife, has to be above reproach. It is imperative that Kenyans go to the next elections without a shadow of doubt that anything in the process is in any way questionable.

If it means that the IEBC issue a fresh tender, then so be it. But since this might delay the election calendar, the IEBC has got the option of carrying out manual voter registration.

If this is done in a transparent manner and Kenyans are involved in verification of the register, voter confidence will be enhanced. The IEBC has time to carry out the manual voter registration, clean out the "black book" and ensure it does not sully its reputation or dent public confidence.

Quote of the day: "I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind," Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French writer, poet and pioneering aviator who became a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and won the US National Book Award for his novella, The Little Prince, died on July 31,1944.