IEBC Chairman has confirmed Raila is right the voter register has errors BUT at the same time dismissed claims that it has been compromised to include foreigners.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga told media he has evidence that IEBC has registered foreigners in the ongoing countrywide exercise.
He said on Wednesday that the IEBC register has been infiltrated and compromised “by strangers registered to vote and also ghost voters” in the August 8 polls.
But IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati said the flaws highlighted by Raila are part of data entry errors where 128,926 duplicate ID numbers were found in the register.
“For the avoidance of doubt, most of these numbers were keyed into the system during the 2012 registration drive and do not relate to the current Mass Voter Registration,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Chebukati termed the flaws in the registration list as an historical issue and should not be used to discredit the ongoing registration citing that plans were underway by the commission to ensure that the voter register is clean and credible.
“The commission is aware that there are Kenyans who have ID numbers reading: 00000002 or 00000023. These numbers may appear single digit 2 or double digits 23 respectively,” the statement reads.
Chebukati said IEBC would make public the list of all duplicate IDs on Friday as it had promised.
“[IEBC] wishes to assure that the process of cleaning up the register is in good hands. There should be no cause for alarm and Kenyans must focus on registering as voters given that we have only two weeks left,” it added.
The IEBC chair said the Identification Card numbers would be used as part of identification in the unique identifier come the election period in addition to the biometrics captured at registration.
IEBC’s Mass Voter Registration will come to an end on February 14.
The commission was targeting between four to six million new voters in the month-long exercise.
The drive has been marred with claims of double registration and the listing of foreign nationals to participate in the August polls.
As registration enters its final leg, opposition and Jubilee leaders are conducting campaigns to ensure they meet thresholds to win the election.
PRESS RELEASE – CLARIFICATION ON THE REGISTER OF VOTER BBS
NAIROBI: Wednesday, 1st February 2017
Our attention has been drawn to a statement issued by Hon. Raila Odinga on the issue of the quality of the register of voters. In our last two press briefings, we highlighted steps being taken by the Commission to clean up the register of voters.
We already informed the public of the 128,926 duplicate ID numbers in our BVR database which could be attributed to: (a) data entry errors at the time of registration (b) attempts by individuals to register more than once or more than one individual sharing one ID card to register. As stated, the Commission shall be making public the list of the duplicate IDs by Friday this week.
We wish to confirm that some of the numbers highlighted by the CORD Leader are indeed part of the 128,926 ID numbers that are subject of the ongoing cleanup process. For the avoidance of doubt, most of these numbers were keyed into the system during the 2012 registration drive and do not relate to the current Mass Voter Registration campaign. This is a historical issue and should not be used to discredit the ongoing registration drive.
That said, the Commission is aware that there are Kenyans who have ID numbers reading: 00000002 or 00000023. These numbers may appear single digit 2 or double digits 23 respectively. It does not, therefore, mean that the two formats are different when it comes to identification. As stated yesterday by the Commission, the ID number will now be part of the unique identifiers in addition to the biometrics captured at registration.
The Commission wishes to assure that the process of cleaning up the register is in good hands. There should be no cause for alarm and Kenyans must focus on registering as voters given that we have only two weeks left.
WAFULA CHEBUKATI
CHAIRPERSON
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