• Raila’s team is apprehensive that the second book could be used as a substitute ‘as it satisfies every requirement of electoral laws and regulations.’.
• IEBC commissioners who were with poll stakeholders in Athens said the extra Form34As were needed as copies to observers, media, and other stakeholders.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Azimio flagbearer Raila Odinga has raised the red flag on the printing of results declaration forms 34A and 34B to be used in next month’s election.
In a letter signed by Azimio chief legal adviser Paul Mwangi, Raila said his team noted “disturbing issues” after it emerged the IEBC printed two books of Form 34As.
Azimio is also concerned that the polls agency is not printing Form 34Bs, into which polling station results recorded in Form 34A are collated.
The former prime minister says his team picked up that there were two books of Form 34As, which were labelled as Book 1 of 2 and Book 2 of 2- that were churned out by the Greek firm Inform Lykos.
Raila’s team is apprehensive that the second book could be used as a substitute "as it satisfies every requirement of electoral laws and regulations."
In a letter to IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati seen by the Star, the Azimio team said the IEBC has not given satisfactory answers to their inquiry about the extra book.
IEBC commissioners who were with poll stakeholders in Athens said the extra Form 34As were needed in each polling station as there was a need to give a copy to observers, media, and other stakeholders.
“We reject this explanation because Book 2 of 2 from which it is alleged copies for stakeholders will be obtained is more than just a copy.
"It is actually a fully-fledged Form 34As complete with all security features similar to those in Book 1 of 2,” Mwangi said in the letter.
Among other concerns is that the second book has separate and distinct serial numbering, thus “a separate and parallel result declaration form.”
The team holds that the IEBC needs only six original Form 34As for the presidential election – for national returning officer, one for each candidate, and one to be sealed inside the ballot boxes with other materials.
“Everything else can be filled out as copies on any form of stationery. It is, therefore, very disturbing that the commission thought it necessary to print another book of original Form 34As,” Mwangi said.
He said their suspicion follows that members of the public have never been informed of the second book, which was only discovered at the printing press during inspection.
On the Form 34B, which the IEBC is not printing, the Azimio legal brass said they were equally dissatisfied with IEBC explanation that the “form will generate itself when results are keyed in.”
The issue of irregularities in the use of statutory declaration forms was among grounds, which the Supreme Court nullified the 2017 presidential election.
Form 34B is provided for under the Election (General) Regulations, 2017, with its format spelled in the schedule of forms.
Azimio holds that just like Form34A, Form34B is a security document, “which the law demands must have a serial number that is printed in the form beforehand.”
“In all elections, Form34B has been printed with similar security features as Form34A. There is no room for the IEBC to exercise any discretion in this matter,” Mwangi said.
Raila’s team says they raised the issue in the presence of their UDA competitors while receiving ballot papers at the airport and want a meeting with the IEBC to discuss the issues.
This was even as it emerged that the IEBC has printed a manual register of voters for each of the polling stations across the country.
IEBC disclosed this as it received the first batch of presidential ballot papers at JKIA on Wednesday.
The electoral agency however said they would only revert to the manual register in the unlikely event of technology failure.
IEBC says they are deploying six extra Kiems kits per ward to reduce any possibility that the manual registers would be used.
Raila had however insisted on the use of manual registers.
“Manual register is a must at every polling station. It is not negotiable and we are telling IEBC that manual registers are a must along with biometric identification of voter’s, failure to which there will be no elections,” Raila said during a rally in Gatundu.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
The commission’s vice chairperson Juliana Cherera however said apart from the ballot papers, the boxes being delivered also contained the voter registers and posters.
She spoke on Wednesday when they received the first batch of presidential ballot papers at JKIA.
“The registers are available but we have a protocol on how it shall be used...they are contained in each of the boxes for each of the polling stations including results declaration forms,” Cherera said.
The electoral agency has, however, stated that manual register can only be used when the Kiems kits being used to identify a voter fails.
Commissioner Abdi Guliye had said instead of three kits per ward as were the case in 2017, they have doubled them to six.
“If there is a total failure, we will replace the kits. If it fails, we will bring the third kit. Assuming all the kits are not working, that is when we can revert to a manual register,” he said during a past function.
At the same time, the commission attributed delay in delivery of ballot papers to pending court cases.
While the commission had earlier indicated that the final batch being presidential materials would arrive on July 29 (Friday), it has adjusted it to August 3.
In a joint statement from a delegation of 13 members that travelled to Greece to witness the printing process, the team said delayed court rulings have affected the process.
The group, which included religious leaders, representatives of presidential candidates, civil society representatives, the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, and the Media Council of Kenya arrived in the country on Wednesday morning.
"The team takes note of the printer's concern especially court ruling that delayed the printing schedule," Fr Joseph Mutie, chairperson of the inter-religious Council of Kenya said.
Others present to receive the ballot papers at the airport were commissioners Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang'aya and Irene Masit.
Agency's chairperson Wafula Chebukati was conspicuously missing during the event.
Kenya Kwanza was represented by UDA secretary general Veronica Maina and Anthony Mwaura while lawyer Paul Mwangi and Velva Maumo represented Azimio La Umoja.
When asked about the clash between the commission and police service over the arrest of two foreigners in possession of election materials, Cherera refused to be entangled in it saying, “I have been away and I cannot comment over it now.”
The team, which was at the Inform Lykos (Hellas) SA printing factory in Athens for the last one week also expressed its satisfaction on the progress made by the firm so far.
“The delegation is impressed and satisfied that the printing process is properly executed and the control check put in place are sufficient to safeguard the integrity of the ballot,” Mutie said.
Maumo said they inspected the printing and packaging of presidential papers and that she was in agreement with other officials adding the coalition will also communicate over it.
“I want to believe what we saw is the real situation at Greece and what will come to Kenya,” Mwaura said.
Some 225 pallets of the presidential papers for 18 counties were received.
The commission said one pallet consists of 54 boxes, with the last batch expected on Friday.
The agency at the same time stated that there are 65.2 million ballots in its warehouses, out of the 132 million papers set to be printed.
The materials, it said, are contained in 143,821 boxes and wrapped in 1,994 ballets.
Those for diaspora, according to IEBC, are expected on July 28 before being dispatched to various destinations.
It will be packaged in two pallets for the 27 polling stations in the 12 foreign countries.
During their visit, the team was also shown how damaged ballot papers are destroyed and how the pallets are tracked right from factory to the airport for safety.
“The monitoring delegation inspected the security features imprinted on the ballot papers and witnessed printing and packaging into booklets, boxes and pallets and labelling ready for shipment,” read the statement.
The officials said the printing firm has an experience of 100 years in security printing, making it among the largest in the World.
It prints bank credit and visa credit cards, pin numbers for bank cards, drug authentication labels, excise stamps, smart ticketing, lottery coupons and graduate certificates, ballot papers and bills and statements.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)