IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has said the cleaning of the register will be done after the voter registration process on 19th February. He said this during a press conference after meeting the Head of the Jubilee secretariat Raphael Tuju and other Jubilee leaders at the party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi. The cleaning of the register entails removing the names of dead voters, scrapping off names of people who have double registration, among others.
He was keen to highlight that they held discussions on various issues, just like they did with the opposition team earlier. “The issue of the register is one of the issues we discussed,” he said, “On 19th February we expect data of the people who have registered and the transfers, then we embark on the process of cleaning up the register. On the 9th of May we shall present it (the register) to the Kenyan people and leaders for verification purposes.”
Raphael Tuju said that Kenyans should be mindful of the death rate per county, “If one comes from a county where the death rate is higher per year according to reports, then you should expect to lose more names when the register is being cleaned,” citing that when numbers plummet people should be aware of baselines and facts like that, so that rigging claims aren’t used come the elections.
On the issue of party nominations, Jubilee party has requested that IEBC conducts their nominations, and Chebukati said they will engage further with the party to find a way forward.
The IEBC Chairman said that the commission’s budget has been affected by the voter registration exercise, indicating that they use around Kshs 30 to Kshs 40 million per day. However, he said that they must follow the law, and adhere to the court’s decision.
