•Ruto made the remarks during a meeting with the IEBC at Windsor Hotel, Nairobi.
•The IEBC convened the Wednesday meeting to iron out issues of concern among the presidential candidates.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
Kenya kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto has yet again reiterated that he would not have had a problem if ODM leader Raila Odinga's brother Obnuru Odinga was the IEBC chairman.
Ruto made the remarks during a meeting with the IEBC at Windsor Hotel, Nairobi.
The IEBC convened the Wednesday meeting to iron out issues of concern among the presidential candidates.
While making the remarks on Raila;'s brother, the DP sought to explain that all Kenyans have a right to serve as long as they are competent.
He said the issue of tribe or relations should not be a concern as long as the people in question were hired competitively.
"If our competitors have a problem with certain Kenyans who come from certain communities, you can work out with them," Ruto told the IEBC chairman, Wafula Chebukati.
"Even if my competitor's (Raila) brother was the chairman of IEBC, I would have no problem, so long as he is competitively recruited."
Prior to the DP's arrival, Raila, through his legal team, raised concerns that 10 of the 47 county election manager were from one tribe
IEBC however downplayed the complaint saying every Kenyan has a right to serve as long as they qualify for the role.
During the Wednesday meeting, Raila raised a number of issues with the IEBC.
The opposition chief wanted to know why IEBC was reluctant to use of manual voters register.
IEBC said they will not provide hard copy voter registers to polling stations and insisted on using the electronic system.
But lawyer Paul Mwangi, who represents Raila, argued that this was against the Elections Act.
He said that the law requires the commission to have the manual voter register as a secondary voter identification system in the event that the electronic system fails.
"The insistence is not that you don't use technology. Use all the systems that have been described but the law requires you to have that system in place whether it will be used or not," Mwangi said.
National chief agent Saitabao ole Kanchory said IEBC is legally obliged to use printed register by dint of Section 44 (a) of the Elections Act.
"It's a complementary mechanism but it's also a safety mechanism," Kanchory said.
"It's our position that for the election to be free and fair, the law must be upheld to the latter. We are concerned that if the law is not upheld then anyone can go to court if the printed register is not used," Kanchory said.
Other issues raised by the Azimio team are the provision of a list of all polling stations, ballot papers design and printing location and the number of Kiems kits to be used and their serial numbers