ODM Lands at IEBC Offices After Threats of Demos

Chebukati
IEBC Boss Wafula Chebukati [Photo, Courtesy]
Orange Democratic Party (ODM) officials showed up at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission offices on Wednesday over the contentious Kibra voter register.

On Twitter, the party stated: “We are at the IEBC offices waiting to meet the Chairman. No demonstrations as the media had reported and anticipated. It is a legal requirement that we MUST be given a copy of the updated voter register for Kibra or any other area that we request for.”

Present at the meeting were ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, Suba MP John Mbadi and Rarieda MP Otiende Amolo among others.

They are currently holding a closed-door meeting with IEBC officials.

On Tuesday, The ODM Party said it would hold demonstrations at IEBC’s offices in Nairobi on Wednesday over the failure of the body to provide it with voter register for Kibra Constituency.

“We want to notify the IEBC that we shall be marching to their offices tomorrow at 9.am in the morning. We shall not leave the said offices unless and until we are supplied with the official updated register to be used in the Kibra by-election” it said in a press statement on Tuesday.

It accused the IEBC of contravening the Elections Act (2015) by failing to provide it with the register despite writing to request for the same three times.

ODM
The ODM officials at IEBC officials [Photo, Courtesy]
It claimed it had written to IEBC three times through its Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen, Sifuna and Law Firm Rachier and Amollo Advocates on diverse dates but IEBC never met their requests.

“However, since then, no action has been taken the Commission with regard to our request. Instead, we have been subjected to a back and forth game, being engaged in a song of musical chairs and tossed left right and centre from one department to another,” the party indicated.

ODM added: “With three weeks to the by-election, and there being no commitment by the Commission to provide the updated voter register requested by the party, we are left with no option but to question the motive behind the hide and seek game that we are being subjected to.”

It stated that the unwillingness by the IEBC to conduct elections strictly per the law breeds suspicion and makes them believe in rumours that something fishy is going on.

“This leads us to start believing rumours doing rounds of secret meetings between top IEBC officials and some Jubilee senior officials which are not limited to attempts to alter the voter register,” it stated

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