•The IEBC chairman said aspirants are set to seek audience with the Commission between May 29 and June 7.
•On August 9, 2021, Chebukati announced that the commission requires at least Sh40.9 billion to carry out elections.
The ballot papers for the August 9 elections will be procured between June and July, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has said.
He said aspirants are set to seek audience with the commission between May 29 and June 7.
"We will then compile the records and order ballot papers," Chebukati said.
He spoke on Thursday at University of Nairobi Towers during the 10th anniversary of constitutional commissions and independent offices.
The theme of the anniversary was ‘Celebrating a decade of promoting constitutionalism and observance of democratic values and principles.’
Key speakers included – NLC chairman Gershom Otachi, Director Legal UNEP/U0N Prof Kameri Mbote, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, Dr Joyce Mutinda, UoN legal lecturer Prof Ben Sihanya and Commission on Administration of Justice chairperson Florence Kajuju.
Chebukati said the commission is ready to hold the elections as most issues have been addressed.
IEBC has released election timelines.
In the timelines, IEBC directed political parties to submit a list of all their aspirants before April 9.
All political parties were further directed to conduct their nominations by April 22.
Political parties will be required to submit the names of all nominated aspirants by April 28.
In the timelines, the presidential aspirants have been directed to submit duly filled forms to the commission by May 23, for clearance.
The filled forms of supporters bear the names, signatures, identity cards or passport numbers of at least 2,000 registered voters in each county.
Chebukati said the commission is doing well in terms of election preparedness as compared to 2017.
He said the procurement of strategic and non-strategic elections materials was at 95 per cent.
On August 9, 2021, Chebukati announced that the commission requires at least Sh40.9 billion to conduct the election.
However, the Treasury only allocated Sh33.013 billion.
Chebukati said even though the commission did not get all the resources it required, it will work within what has been allocated.
On election preparedness, Chebukati said the commission is working with the National Police Service to train police officers who will be manning polling stations.
He said two police officers will man one station. Chebukati said the training is set to start this Friday.
He said the guidelines that the commission had developed to guide in campaign financing had been struck out and as such, there are no guidelines for the 2022 election.
Chebukati said the commission is waiting for the determination of two matters that are before the High Court to guide on the way forward on campaign financing.
The IEBC chairman said the law does not allow aspirants to campaign 48 hours to the election.
Chebukati said the commission will take appropriate action should an aspirant be found violating the rules.
“We will report to the DPP. Such aspirants also risk being prosecuted during election petitions,” he said.
Chebukati said the DPP has full responsibility of ensuring that elections offences are prosecuted after the High Court said the IEBC code was unconstitutional.
Chebukati said peace committees have been set up in the 47 counties to help monitor and manage elections especially during the campaigns.
“We also have a monitoring tool for the possibility of violence. We share the information with the police for action,” he said.
Chebukati said the commission is fully constituted as per the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, saying that should the highest court ruled otherwise, a Kenyan would have challenged their decisions.
The chair said some of the decisions that had been made by the commission included self-evaluation reports after elections.
Others include the procurement of elections materials that started last year.
Chebukati said weak laws prevent the commission from implementing chapter six of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 on leadership and integrity.
“The leadership and integrity law is very weak. Aspirants fill the form and just submit to IEBC. There is need for parameters on who should not qualify. We are working with other agencies to navigate and see how to clear candidates before nominations,” he said.
On fallout likely to be witnessed during party nominations, Chebukati said the commission is ready to address them using the structures in place.
Kajuju said there is wastage of public resources by those seeking different offices.
The chairperson said her commission has already developed a tool to clear aspirants seeking positions in the coming polls.
“We will monitor and evaluate all public officers,” she said.
Kajuju urged the Registrar of Political Parties not to accept coalition agreements that promise party positions that do not exist.
“We will go after the registrar as that amounts to abuse of office,” she said.
Kajuju said there is a lacuna in the Constitution since it allows governors who have exhausted two terms to run for Senate position, saying it amounts to a conflict of interest.
Gathungu said her office is involving citizens in audits through citizen accountability audit.
“We pay attention to the needs of various stakeholders for our work to be relevant,” she said.
Gathungu said her office looks at public finance management cycle to determine if public resources have been used prudently.
She said public resources must adequately be budgeted, planned for and spent as planned.
“Audit is evidence based. If you cannot support, then you have a disagreement with the auditor,” she said.
Gathungu said public resources must have an impact on the lives of Kenyans.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)