Voters register is now available to the public at a fee as announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)
While speaking during a National Conference on Election Preparedness at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on Monday, July 11, the commission’s chairperson Wafula Chebukati announced that anyone interested in the register will pay a nominal fee to access it.
“As a commission we have the voter’s register which has been duplicated, certified and gazetted and those who have been asking for it will pay a nominal fee and you will get it through our CEO. The register has 22,120, 458 voters who include voters in the diaspora and prison,” Chebukati stated.
With just 28 days to go to the election day, Chebukati echoed that the commission is an independent body and as such the general elections will be free, fair and credible.
“The commission journey to preparing for the upcoming election started way back after the 2017 election by doing a post-election evaluation and report provided important insights into the conduct of the 2017 election and in specific what worked and what did not work and areas of improvement,” he said.
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In addition, the IEBC chairman urged all voters to turn out in large numbers and exercise their democratic right to vote. He further added that the electoral body will count each vote cast as each vote counts.
Moreover, the issue of availing the voters register comes as a relief to political stakeholders who have been pressuring the electoral body to release the register as part of measures to secure the integrity of the election.
Nevertheless, voter register has also been at the center of election disputes in the country, and has often been attributed for electoral irregularities.
Furthermore, political parties also expressed concerns on duplicate identification records, discrepancies between the paper register and electronic version as well as shifting totals in the number of registered voters.