•According to the outgoing senator, there was no valid reason that Kenyans were kept waiting for the presidential results for seven days.
•He explained that the Brazillian electoral agency manages 107 million voters who are all on biometrics and is able to determine the presidential elections within 2 hours, between 5 pm and 7 pm.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Makueni Governor elect Mutula Kilonzo has expressed his dismay over the election process in the country.
According to the outgoing senator, there was no valid reason that Kenyans were kept waiting for the presidential results for seven days.
He explained he once sat in a committee that put in place mechanisms of having what we call an Integrated electoral management system and electronic submission for election transparency which has not been demonstrated in Kenya.
“I’m disappointed with the election process and I can tell you there is no reason or excuse to keep Kenyans waiting for seven days for the results. It is extremely disappointing,” Mutula said during an interview on Tuesday night at a local Tv station.
Comparing Kenya’s voting process to Brazil, the senator said he was further disappointed that there is a possibility that somebody hacked the IEBC portal and even changed the forms.
“I travelled with Senator Orengo on an invitation by the equivalent of the Brazilian electoral agency and the country has a system designed by themselves,” Mutula stated.
He explained that the Brazillian electoral agency manages 107 million voters who are all on biometrics and is able to determine the presidential elections within 2 hours, between 5 pm and 7 pm.
“The system they use is created by themselves and once it is set they invite hackers to do their bit for three weeks so that by the time they go to the elections, there is no worry that someone will hack the system,” Mutula said.
“Here in Kenya, we are behaving like we are not even part of the third world by having a system which can be hacked,” he added.
Going further, the Makueni Governor-elect said the government ought to have taken former IEBC commissioner Roslyene Akombe’s report on the commission seriously before carrying out any election.
In the report, she explained why they had problems as a commission because the commission was split between political parties and alignments.
In 2017, Akombe resigned from her post, saying the IEBC was not in a position to deliver a credible election on October 26.
Akombe who had travelled to Dubai to supervise the printing of ballot papers and flew to New York from where she broke the news to the BBC.
She accused fellow commissioners of taking sides in the ensuing political dispute pitting the main contenders, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.
In her report, Mutula stated that the former commissioner revealed that Kenya can have a smooth election process without an IEBC that is not politically affiliated.
“When Dr Roslyene Akombe left the commission she did a very comprehensive and elaborate report on the working of IEBC. She said if you want to reform this country you must have an IEBC that is not politically affiliated,” he added.
Before the presidential results were announced last week on Monday, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance claimed that the IEBC system was compromised.
Raila Odinga's Chief agent Saitabao Ole Kanchory said it was the reason he said Bomas of Kenya which was the national tallying centre was a 'crime scene'.
"We have intelligence reports that their system was penetrated and hacked and that some IEBC officials committed electoral offences and some of them ought to have been arrested," he said.