• This will be the third time Chebukati will be speaking on election integrity on foreign soil since the acrimonious announcement of Kenya's poll results on August 15, 2022.
• The two other occasions were in Lisbon, Portugal on November 14 and November 20, in Abidjan in Ivory Coast.
Image: WAFULA CHEBUKATI/X
Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chair Wafula Chebukati will on Thursday engage in a panel discussion on poll integrity in South Africa.
The former electoral agency boss made the announcement via his X account Wednesday evening.
"Greetings from The Mother City: Cape Town, South Africa! I am all set to engage in a panel discussion to discuss the delivery of elections with integrity and trust at the ECF-SADC 25th Anniversary Symposium," he said.
"In sharing my experiences, I'm to rally the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of the SADC region to continue to strive for credible, inclusive and transparent elections; in line with the conference theme," he added.
The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries (EFC-SADC) has since its formation in July 1988 played an important role in improving the quality of the management of elections in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
It has also been engaged in building the capacity of election management bodies among SADC member countries to fulfil their roles.
At its 25th anniversary symposium between November 27-30, the forum will be striving to push for the credibility and integrity of electoral processes in the SADC region and on the continent at large.
This will be the third time Chebukati will be speaking on election integrity on foreign soil since the acrimonious announcement of Kenya's poll results on August 15, 2022.
On November 14, Chebukati delivered a keynote address at the 19th International Electoral Affairs Symposium and Awards ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.
On November 20, Chebukati said via his X platform he was in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to make yet another talk on elections.
"Honored to be in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where I will deliver a presentation titled “Overcoming Political, Legal and Institutional Constraints Against Electoral Reforms” at the 2023 ECONEC Symposium," he said.
While in Lisbon, Chebukati delivered a presentation titled “Kenya 2022 Election Success Story: Leveraging Technology for Increased Election Integrity”.
He observed that despite technology having increased election integrity, impunity still remains a big issue in many election processes the world over.
"Technology – even when leveraged at its best - cannot cure impunity in elections. With all these unimpeachable technological measures in place, violence was still meted on election officials during the 2022 General Election," Chebukati told a parked auditorium of electoral officials.
The IEBC bagged the Election Management Award at the close of the event on November 16.
Chebukati and several foreign officials have touted Kenya's August 8, 2022 election as the most credible and open in the country's history even as the Opposition Azimio insists the election was rigged.