- Political players dismissed the proposal, saying the election laws and accompanying regulations provide for parallel tallying.
- Kibicho said the government was keen on addressing the said risks – as experienced in the 1992, 1997, 2007, 2013, and 2017 elections, to avert their repeat.
Image: SHABAN OMAR
Political parties have clashed with the state over the latter's plans to block presidential candidates from setting up parallel tallying centres.
Politicians have insisted that there is no law that bars presidential contenders or parties from running their own vote tallying centres.
This is after the state on Wednesday warned that it will not allow politicians or their agents to run their own presidential election tallies.
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said such setups have been identified as among the risks to delivering a free, fair and credible election.
He said the state is keen to avert a situation of parallel announcement of results, saying that mandate belongs to the electoral commission.
"As we prepare, there are risks and serious threats that can affect elections in the country that we need to look into. We are looking at these risks because of our experiences in the past,” he said.
He went on: “The issue of parallel vote tallying – that is a very serious risk in an electoral process. That IEBC is announcing results and another person announcing theirs creates a problem."
Kibicho said the government was keen on addressing the said risks – as experienced in the 1992, 1997, 2007, 2013, and 2017 elections, to avert their repeat.
He made the sentiments at the Star 2021 Person of the Year and Journalists Awards dinner in a speech read on his behalf by Interior Principal Administrative Secretary Moffat Kangi.
But political players dismissed the proposal, saying the election laws and accompanying regulations provide for parallel tallying.
ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said no law stops any candidate from setting up independent tallying centres.
He argued that the IEBC had itself said that because elections are conducted at the polling station level, the results announced there would be the final results.
“If I have agents in polling stations, which logic do you have to say I cannot add the two numbers? Do we just stare and not take out a calculator to add the numbers?” Sifuna asked.
He added that since there would be no tallying by IEBC at the polling station, the media and various political parties and candidates themselves can tally the votes.
“We don’t have to, like in previous elections, wait for the IEBC tally. This has been communicated by the IEBC and it’s the law. That once results are declared by RO [returning officer] at polling stations, it is final.”
UDA deputy secretary general Eliud Owalo also quipped that no one can stop any candidate, for whatever position, from having an independent tallying centre.
“The parallel tallying is to countercheck the results which will be announced by the IEBC. That needs to be upheld in the 2022 general election,” he said.
Owalo added, “You want to confirm the results transmitted are those that are announced to ensure objectivity and to ensure the process is fair."
"The law is clear all candidates are free to tally. If anyone tries to stop that, some people will move to court to challenge the same.”
Parallel tallying has been a thorny issue between the state and political players who rely on it as checks against IEBC.
The Communications Authority is among the agencies the government can direct not to license infrastructure for private tallying of a presidential election.
In the most recent by-elections, Ruto’s UDA side harnessed parallel tallying to go ahead of IEBC in announcing results as was the case in Kiambaa, Bonchari, and Juja parliamentary by-elections.
Agents sent WhatsApp messages with images of the forms to tally and sometimes declared results on their own.
It is hoped that Ruto, who has dared opponents against stealing his votes, will deploy a massive ICT infrastructure to monitor and transmit election results to their tallying centre parallel to IEBC.
Cord established a tallying centre in Muthaiga during the 2013 elections.
In 2017, NASA parallel tallying centre was raided and equipment carted away by suspected state agents.
But Kibicho said the aim of the government ahead of the 2022 vote is to keep on improving in addressing the risks.
“Other risks that we must address are hate speech and incitement, as well as chaotic nominations. If primaries are chaotic, that is where the problem begins,” he added.
He cited other risks to the polls which include money laundering, terrorism and violent extremism, as well as the proliferation of organised criminal gangs, saying the issues be looked at holistically.
Kibicho further restated that the constituted national multisectoral consultative forum will continue to help IEBC in the preparations for the next general election.
“It is the responsibility of the government to organise elections and to look for resources that can ensure that we have an election,” he said.
“All those institutions mandated to work in those areas must be supported by everybody, including other agencies and departments of government.”
“That one has already happened and can only be strengthened, we cannot weaken it. The aim is to minimise the risk of inefficiency, ineffectiveness, time-wasting and misuse of resources,” he said.
Kibicho moved to assure Kenyans that all was set for the forthcoming poll, further revealing that a security management plan has been drawn.
“All actors have been consulted and are being consulted as we progress towards the elections. With the risks and threats identified, I want to assure you that the government is on top of issues to do with security,” he said.
He went on: "We are prepared as a government, in collaboration with all stakeholders, to have the elections. We all acknowledge that an election is not a small matter that can be owned by any single department or institution."