In a statement this morning, Kenya’s electoral body the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) made it clear that no other agency is registering voters and refuted allegations by the media that NYS is registering voters.
“Widely circulated but unsubstantiated allegations of voter registration by persons or organizations other than the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) have been published by the media recently. Invariably, it has also been claimed that the Commission had employed NYS personnel to carry out such voter registration.” said the commission in a statement.
“There’s no iota of truth in both allegations,” read the statement. “The registration of voters and management of elections in Kenya is the constitutional preserve of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).”
IEBC further clarified that on 2nd September, 2014, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning through a letter by then Permanent Secretary for Planning, Eng. Peter Mangiti, requested IEBC to lend them 200 additional Biometric Voter Registration kits (BVRs) and accessories for use in the registration of civil servants in both the national and county governments as part of the Capacity Assessment and Rationalization of the Public Service (CARPS) programme.
“The transfers were permanent. The kits were handed over without data or software to enable installation of a new operating system and software by the users. Other uses of the biometric devices by NYS are not in any way connected to the Commission’s system or ongoing voter registration,” read the statement.
IEBC warns that anyone purporting to usurp this role is violating the law and is liable for prosecution but should therefore report to the Police for appropriate action to be taken.