ODM Chairman John Mbadi said they had resolved that the IEBC must conduct a forensic audit of its systems in order to assure stakeholders of a credible, fair and transparent election occasioned by the Supreme Court nullifying the August 8 presidential election results/LABAN WANAMBISI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 6 – The National Super Alliance (NASA) says personnel changes made at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ahead of the October 17 fresh presidential election will have no impact if the electoral systems are not managed properly.
Speaking after a Parliamentary Group meeting, ODM Chairman John Mbadi said they had resolved that the IEBC must conduct a forensic audit of its systems in order to assure stakeholders of a credible, fair and transparent election occasioned by the Supreme Court nullifying the August 8 presidential election results.
“So long as the technical aspect of transmitting votes, the servers are not going to be looked into; then even if you change people it would not help much. You need to get people with the right credibility and competence to do the work, but also look at the system whether it has been tampered with or it is still intact. Those are two issues that the IEBC must look into,” he said.
He was reacting to notice appearing in the Gazette Notice in which IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati announced a team to oversee the presidential election.
Chebukati picked Marjan Hussein Marjan to be the project coordinator, while Sidney Namulungu will be the head of operations.
Nancy Kariuki will head the logistics team as Bernard Misati Moseti was appointed to head the training department while Albert Gogo has been named as the head of ICT. Silas Rotich was named the head of the National Tallying Centre.
In the changes, Chebukati gave strict instructions that the new head of ICT will strictly work under instructions from him, as the National Returning Officer.
Meanwhile, NASA MPs said they are ready for the elections insisted that the preparations to be above board.
“Our position is different from that of Jubilee Party, theirs is bora uchaguzi, ours is uchaguzi bora,” Mbadi said.
The Suba South MP spoke as the coalition’s running mate Kalonzo Musyoka and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula were meeting IEBC to agree on the fresh election date among other issues.
“Gazettement is not an issue. There is no law that says that if you have already gazetted October 17; that you cannot change it to 24th, 31st or any other date. So to me, I think that would be an excuse, if anyone was to talk about gazettement. We have revoked a number of Kenya Gazette Notices previously therefore so long as another date shall be agreed on the IEBC will take necessary steps and give another date,” he stated.
IEBC announced that campaigns for the fresh presidential election were set to officially kick off on Wednesday.
The IEBC stated that campaigns will end on October 15, some 48 hours before Kenyans go to the polls again.
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