Lamu,KENYA:Lamu women rep Shakilla Abdalla wants the IEBC to postpone the August 8 general elections on grounds that there are numerous errors to the voter register.
Speaking in Lamu on Friday,Shakilla said the 30 day period set for voters to go and confirm whether their names appeared in the voter registers was too short while the number of irregularities being encountered in the process was considerable.
The women rep said the exercise which kicked off two weeks ago is becoming questionable by day since many voters cant seem to trace their names in their respective voting centers while many others have their names wrongly spelt.
Shakilla said if the irregularities aren’t looked into on time,then there are chances that the forthcoming elections won’t be free and fair.
She said the remaining time isn’t enough for the irregularities to be addressed and that as such the IEBC should look into postponing the exercise to allow for a credible one at a later date.
“there are obvious issues with voter registers all over yet the IEBC isn’t telling us what to do or what they plan to do.people have their names missing while others have their names wrongly written.others have their names appearing in other counties.how can elections be credible with such issues?the commission has very little time to claim that it cant look into such matters effectively on time.Instead of holding questionable elections,why not postpone until the issues are resolved,”said Shakilla.
However IEBC elections manager in Lamu Mohamed Adan assured locals of a free and credible elections and insisted that the IEBC had invested a lot in ensuring the forthcoming general elections were credible and said the commission was more than ready to host the general elections.
He said the elections will not be postponed for any given reason since the IEBC was set for it.
Adan asked all those with complaints should fill a claim form and submit it to the commission within 30 days in order to allow for their grievances to addressed promptly on time.
“Kenyans have nothing to worry about.The commission is ready to hold credible elections come August 8.Any one who has issues with the voter register should fill a claim form and bring it to our office in 30 days and we will definitely look into their complaint.The election date will however not be postponed since their no reason to do so,”said Adan.
The voter verification exercise commenced on May 11 and is expected to end on June 9 where voters are expected to turn up physically within their county administration wards to verify their voter registration details.
