•Election security manual also states that returning officers will be in charge of all the operations.
•This means, that neither the county police commanders nor other senior officers will have a say in the management of the elections at the polling centres without express orders from the returning officers.
Image: IEBC /TWITTER
All security officers deployed for the purpose of the August 9 general election will be expected to keep a record of all incidents that occur at their centres, security management guidelines shows.
The election security manual developed by the National police service commission and IEBC in collaboration with other state agencies also states that the returning officers will be in charge of all the operations.
This means, that neither the county police commanders nor other senior officers will have a say in the management of the elections at the polling centres without express orders from the returning officers.
Previously, security officers have come under sharp criticism having been accused of interfering with the management of the elections in some areas leading to a bungled process.
“The returning officer has overall responsibility for elections in a ward, constituency and county. In the run-up to elections, they will also coordinate security arrangements with election security agencies,” reads the rules in part.
Apart from the assigned duties, the returning officers are also responsible for holding security meetings with election security personnel, candidates, and relevant stakeholders and also reserve the right of admission into an election centre.
In ensuring the officers adhere to the laid down protocols, the service is set to issue them with stationery to help document all occurrences that might pose risk to the during the polling day.
“Every officer must be in possession of standard-type notebook and pencil, supplied by the police, they will be expected to effectively use it to enter details of all incidents and any other material of evidential value,” read the rules.
This is set to aid in the prosecution of perpetrators as the notebooks are going to be required to be produced in court for examination.
The government intends to deploy close to 300, 000 police officers to man polling stations, and tallying centres including guarding of commission’s facilities ahead of the election and escort of materials.
They are set to take the oath of secrecy just like other officials the commission has engaged.
Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai has already indicated that his officers are ready to offer the required services noting they have already taken over manning of key IEBC facilities where the ballot materials are kept.
“We have identified and trained enough police officers to secure the 2022 general election and we also have enough backup teams in case of emergency,” he said during a recent IEBC meeting at Bomas.