National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has criticized IEBC for failing to enforce an electoral law of conduct during the ongoing campaigns. During his address in the elections conference hosted by IEBC in Nairobi, Raila Odinga said this failure is evidenced in the misuse of funds and projects by the government in campaigns among other incidences. “The government is using public funded projects as campaign tools for Jubilee,” he said, “Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries who are paid by taxpayers’ money are being deployed to campaign for Jubilee.”
He added that reports indicate that public institutions are being asked to channel public funds to Jubilee campaign, “The IEBC has remained silent in the middle of all this and it’s worrying,” said the ODM leader. He noted that incumbents are allocating themselves the role of referees in a match they themselves are players.
Furthermore, he said the awarding of the ballot papers tender to Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing confirms the decision to award the tender had been made years ago. IEBC defied pressure and awarded the Ksh 2.5 billion contract to the Dubai-based firm, “Three days ago, the IEBC ignored our concerns and findings of the court and awarded the tender to Al Ghurair. This development is ill-advised and unfortunate,” said Raila Odinga, “It appears that the decision to award the contract to the firm was arrived at years ago.” He said that the firm had contact with senior Jubilee officials for at least three years. He insisted that Kenyans would like to see free, fair, and credible elections in the country.