CORDs remarks on voter registration alarmist Duale

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has termed the claims by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was planning to use the National Intelligence Service (NIS) officers as voter registration clerks as alarmist and unfounded.

In a heavily-worded statement to newsrooms, Duale said the claims by CORD are ill-conceived and bear falsehoods of ‘high magnitude’.

He accused CORD of making claims with an intention of influencing the IEBC’s decision on whether to strike Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula’s name from the voter register over alleged electoral malpractices including voter bribery.

“CORD’s strategy is to intimidate and discredit the IEBC in the hope that this will prevent the Commission from independently and impartially exercising its mandate with regard to Wetangula,” said Duale.

“The constitution is abundantly clear on the functions of the IEBC, which include the continuous registration of citizens as voters and the regular revision of the voters’ roll with a view to facilitating compliance with the General Principles for the electoral system.”

Duale, who is also the Garissa Town MP, said the requirements for voting contemplated by the constitution are that “elections be simple, transparent and takes into account the needs of persons with disability or other special needs”.

“For this reason, voting is required to be simple, accurate, secure, accountable and transparent, regardless of whatever voting method is used. The constitutional and legal standard is the only yardstick by which we may evaluate the performance of the IEBC,” he added.

“Kenyans expect that the commission will fully discharge its constitutional mandate and deliver credible elections in 2017. We ask the Commission to be extra vigilant and eliminate all cases of voting by dead citizens, which has been rampant in some areas.”

He said that as expected, voter registration will be based at the polling stations adding that there is no need for drama and that there is no reason to believe that IEBC is planning to violate expectations founded on the law of the land.

“In any event, CORD has many lawful avenues to explore and address its concerns. Speculations, conjecture and scandal-mongering are the poorest choices it could have made in the circumstance, and this betrays the immaturity of its political thought and the scantiness of its democratic credentials.”

He said that a truly democratic entity has nothing to fear in free and fair elections at whose foundation voter registration lies and CORD should not be afraid.

On Monday, CORD alleged that there was a scheme by IEBC to deploy Intelligence officers as elections officials.

CORD led by Suba MP and ODM chair John Mbadi, Kitui Senator David Musila (Wiper) and Kimilili MP Eseli Simiyu (Ford Kenya) asserted that it had received information of that the commission was training NIS officers to manipulate the numbers.