•Chebukati said the elections were postponed because of errors on the ballot papers by the printers.
•“The postponement was occasioned by an error on the part of the printer by the ballot papers which resulted in a mix-up of the photographs of candidates in ballot papers delivered for the two gubernatorial elections,” he said.
Image: FILE
IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati has dismissed allegations by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance coalition that the postponement of gubernatorial elections in Kakamega and Mombasa was deliberate.
In his response, Chebukati said the elections were postponed because of errors on the ballot papers by the printers.
“The postponement was occasioned by an error on the part of the printer by the ballot papers which resulted in a mix-up of the photographs of candidates in ballot papers delivered for the two gubernatorial elections,” he said.
The printer of the ballot papers owned up to the mistake and agreed to print new ballot papers at their own cost.
According to Chebukati’s affidavit, prior to the printing of the ballot papers, the commission had reviewed and approved the correct ballot proofs for the two counties alongside all other positions.
It even sent Vice Chair Juliana Cherera and Wanderi Francis to Greece to oversee the exercise alongside other stakeholders.
“Any errors in printing were therefore genuine mistakes of the printer which are regrettable.,”
Chebukati says despite spirited efforts to have the printer replace the ballot papers urgently, it was not possible to complete all logistics in time for the elections.
It was for those reasons that Chebukati says the commission was constrained to postpone the gubernatorial elections in Mombasa and Kakamega
“It is not true that the postponement of the election was done for ulterior motives and neither is it possible that it would have affected the voter turnout for the other elective positions,”
Chebukati in his affidavit has also dismissed allegations that there was a deliberate failure of KIEMS Kits within Kakamega and Makueni counties partly as a voter suppression strategy
The commission he says has trained election staff on how to utilise the alternative modes of KIEMS for identification and where the KIEMS kit completely failed with no possibility of replacement, the voters were identified using the printed register and allowed to vote.
“Despite the challenges with a few KIEMS devices in kakamega, the issue was resolved and the KIEMS devices resumed functionality and ultimately transmitted results.,” says Chebukati
Regarding duties of the commissioners, Chebukati says he had allocated various commissioners and members of the commission secretariat specific duties at the national tallying centre.
The verification and tallying of the results he says were therefore undertaken in collaboration by both the commissioners and secretariat.
But the responsibility to finally declare the results was his.
“It is therefore clear that I performed my duties within the narrowly circumscribed parameters of my duties as delineated by the constitution of law and its not true that I acted in isolation or in contravention of the constitution,”
He has further denied breaching any law.
“Quite to the contrary it’s the petitioners, their agents and supporters that brazenly committed grave offences in the full glare of the whole world,” he says