The National Super Alliance (Nasa) now wants Parliament recalled for a special sitting to discuss audit of the voters register done by global audit firm KPMG.
The Raila Odinga-led coalition, in a statement by Nasa co-principal Musalia Mudavadi, argues that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has refused to implement the recommendations of KPMG.
30 DAYS
“Since the issue of a clean register is of great public importance, urgent and exceptional, and will determine whether Elections 2017 will be free, far and credible or not, NASA calls for a recall special sitting of Parliament to discuss the KPMG Audit Report and other election related violations in the conduct of elections by IEBC,” Mr Mudavadi said in the statement sent to newsrooms by his Press Secretary Kibisu Kabatesi.
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Though the Elections Act says IEBC should submit the audit report to Parliament after it is done, and another one in 30 days of their implementation of the scrutiny, the law does not specify what the House can do with the documents.
It does not also say if the bicameral House can deduct, add or recommend changes to any of the two reports.
1,037,260 DEAD
“How do you submit a report to Parliament that is on recess? We all know Parliament is on recess, so why are you sending a report there?” asked Mr Odinga during a press conference on Tuesday.
In the statement, Mr Mudavadi challenged IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati to explain the measures the commission will put in place to ensure that dead voters do not vote, claiming they had done so in past elections.
“Nasa is aware also that KPMG identified 1,037,260 deceased persons in the Register of Voters. IEBC announced it had deleted only 92,277 later reduced to 88,602 dead people from the register. There is therefore an unaccounted for balance of 968, 558 dead voters in the register that IEBC is intent on retaining,” Mr Mudavadi said.
IDS
In its audit, KPMG said the number of deaths for all ages for the period 2012 to 2016 is expected to be 2,390,054 but only 970,895 had been registered.
In the period November 2012 to December 2016, of the expected deaths, the firm said, 1,534,009 were aged 18 years and above, and of these, only 621,832 were registered.
Of these, only 196,988 records had complete details which could be used as a reference to the register of voters.
On that basis, KPMG identified 92,277 deceased persons whose IDs and the names matched within the register of voters.
KIEMS
Even then, Mr Chebukati has argued, it is still impossible in the current setup for people to use dead people’s details to vote as had been in the past.
Mr Chebukati has insisted that the elections will be foolproof, with the commission banking its hopes on the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) that will be used to identify voters and transmit results.
With the use of the KIEMS kits, the commission argues, no dead voter can vote through one person using their identity cards as their biometrics will not match.
Mr Mudavadi also questioned an explanation by the Civil Registration Services (CRS), in a report in the Nation, that seemed to suggest how difficult it was for the IEBC to remove all the dead voters in the roll majorly because of non-reported deaths and people not providing IDs for such a report to be valid even when they do.
RIGGING
“IEBC should stop colluding with to explain away its determination to retain dead persons in the voters register for purposes of election rigging. Nasa has noticed a systematic trend where IEBC has kept mum on questions of publishing a cleaned less-dead-voters register. IEBC has instead chosen to divert attention by enlisting other State agencies to explain away its refusal to clean the voters register as required by law,” Mr Mudavadi said.
The Nasa leader went on; “The gazettement of a register containing almost one million dead voters and costing Sh20,000 is of no value to any Kenyan other than to demonstrate that IEBC has already a pre-determined elections outcome through rigging.”