• The electoral agency tabled a raft of recommendations before the Senate, which it said will ensure free, fair and transparent elections in future
• The commission says will also seek ways of using Huduma Namba to enhance the voters’ register
Image: JACK OWUOR
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has released a list of recommendations it believes will cure the electoral mess that has characterised past polls.
The recommendations will ensure free, fair and transparent elections in future, the electoral agency told the Senate Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee yesterday.
Top on the IEBC’s proposal is the need for legal framework to link the registration database and the register of voters to ensure the commission’s register is promptly updated especially deletion of dead voters.
The opposition has always locked horns with the electoral commission over voters' register, arguing that it is infiltrated by ‘ghost’ voters’ to tilt results to an already predetermined political side.
“We recommend the use of a population register as primary reference material for cleaning the register of voters,” commissioner Boya Molu said.
Molu, who represented the commission before the committee chaired by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said the IEBC will seek ways of using the ongoing National Integrated Information Management System popularly known as Huduma Namba to enhance its voters’ register.
NIIMs listing, which ends this Saturday, will create a one-stop shop that creates, manages, maintains and operates a national register of personal details.
The commission also wants the staggering of general elections so that Kenyans vote on different dates for the county and national seats.
Molu argued that counting and tallying of election results for the six elective positions left most poll officials fatigued.
“We have taken so many of our staff for depression counselling because of the pressure of holding the six elections on the same day,” Molu said.
However, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika said staggering polls will only disenfranchise voters and in effect cause low voter turn-out in subsequent polls.
“If you have people standing for long hours to cast their vote, do you think they will come out a week later?” Kihika asked.
Molu also noted that the appointment of election chiefs should be equally staggered to ensure there is a mix of new and old commissioners at any given time.
The appointments, he said, should be two years before a general election.
The commission is further proposing the extension of the period for hearing presidential petitions to 30 days, saying the current period is too limiting.
The Constitution provides 14 days from the date the final results are declared but the electoral agency says this is not enough to allow proper preparation for cases, results' publication and allowing due process in court, including a recount if need be.
The IEBC also wants the National Treasury and the National Assembly to ensure adequate allocation for electoral activities aligned to the electoral cycle.
The proposal did not go down well with senators Cherargei, James Orengo (Minority leader) and Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo), who demanded an explanation on why the country’s polls are always more expensive than in other jurisdictions with even higher voters population.
“Our election is expensive because we try to legislate trust. We try to automate our trust by deploying expensive technology. There is a bigger social problem that makes elections more expensive,” Molu said.
“Again, as compared to our neighbours, you will find people volunteering as clerks with no pay while in our case, we had to spend Sh700 million on food alone," he said.