The electoral commission has denied claims by Cord leader Raila Odinga's allies that Biometric Voter Registration kits were distributed in favour of jubilee strongholds.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Issack Hassan said the distribution was done according to the size of a ward as opposed to population.
“Those claims are not true. They are sensational,” he said.
Hassan spoke as he launched the month-long mass voter registration targeting four million new voters.
The commission's CEO Ezra Chiloba said: “The commission has explained to Kenyans how the distribution of kits has been done and the information is in the public domain.”
Yesterday, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi and Raila's former aide Eliud Owalo said the IEBC is engaging in schemes to manipulate figures in favour of Jubilee and majority Cord supporters stand to be left out of the registration.
“The tradition has been that registration of voters is conducted at every polling station. Where the idea of wards came from I do not know," Owalo said.
"In Kibra and other Cord areas for instance, two wards have been allocated a kit, notwithstanding that some wards have up to 50 polling stations.”
The commission has deployed 5,756 BVRs and a corresponding number of voter registration assistants to conduct the listing at the ward level.
In the schedule released by the commission, each ward is to receive two kits, but Wandayi said the reality on the ground is different, especially in Cord areas.
He urged the IEBC to be clear and tell the world that all they are doing is a recipe for chaos.
“The commission is engaging in facade. For them to be ill-prepared and appear so casual for an exercise that is so critical for the election outcome, how can we be convinced the 2017 general election will be credible?” Wandayi said.
The commission did not confirm Owalo's claims that some BVR kits had been given to the National Youth Service in advance to conduct a parallel voter registration.
“This is bringing more confusion. It is a scheme to rig the elections. We want IEBC to tell us how many kits were given to NYS, because it's the IEBC that has the mandate to register the voters, not NYS,” Owalo said.
