IEBC to start register clean-up amid integrity queries
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati receives kits from Public Service Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- However, it is a task that has a long history of controversy and this time may not be different. In January, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) admitted that 78,000 people had shared identity card numbers in the register and asked those affected to check with their records
Nairobi. The integrity of the voter register has continued to face questions ahead of the August election even as the electoral commission seeks to start cleaning it up.
However, it is a task that has a long history of controversy and this time may not be different. In January, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) admitted that 78,000 people had shared identity card numbers in the register and asked those affected to check with their records.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati told the Nation that the register will not be a hindrance to the August 8 election.
“Having a credible register is a process. We have just finalised the mass voter registration drive except for the diaspora and prisons.
‘‘The next step is to upload the data to our central database, carry out a matching exercise to ensure that only one voter exists per unique record, prepare the draft register and invite Kenyans to verify their details. This will go on until we publish the register of voters 30 days before the elections. We shall stand by our register,” said Mr Chebukati.
US Ambassador Robert Godec has said that Washington will offer the IEBC technical support to clean up the voters’ register.
However, details obtained by the Nation point to the monumental task ahead for the commission. In extracts from various registration stations across the country, some voters have neither the first name nor the surname. Instead, the surnames are just numbers.
For instance, the surname name of a person with ID number 2767161 is 209913432 while the first name is similar with the ID number. The voter’s unique identity number in the Biometric Voter Registration is 2957815 and it indicates the person was born on January 1, 1926.
Another voter with 15960077 as Electronic Voter Identification Device (Evid) number has surname indicated as 214564849 while the first name is 22352068 and date of birth indicated as June 15, 1979.
The unique identification numbers are often assigned to every registered voter to show the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) machine used to register the person. (NMG)
