IEBC Unleashes Anger on Newspapers Over Kibra By-election Reporting

The IEBC has publicly called out two local dailies over what it terms as misinformation, on the status of the fast-approaching Kibra Constituency MP by-election.

This follows ODM Party’s Thursday claims of discrepancies in the voters’ register published by the IEBC, with the bone of contention being that the said register did not contain identification numbers of individuals listed in the document.

“We are demanding that the IEBC Kenya live up to their expectations, and provide the people of Kibra with a voter register that has the full name of the voter, polling station & his/her ID number. What they have provided doesn’t have voters’ ID numbers,” the party stated.

The opposition faction said it was finding it hard to verify the credibility of the register, amidst accusations of planned election rigging by rival interested parties in the poll.

It is these allegations that prompted the IEBC to issue a statement, in response to ODM’s accusations, detailing the voter register preparation process in which the polls body said, ODM was an active participant.

IEBC further stated that the register availed to the public is in perfect condition, with all the necessary details on voters properly indicated.

On the issue of missing ID numbers, the Commission said it acted according to confidentiality provisions, which restrict public display of citizens’ identification and phone numbers.

These details, IEBC said, had to be truncated.

Despite the clarifications, the two newspapers, The Star and The Standard, published articles reporting on ODM’s claims without according IEBC its right of response, as the articles did not include the issues raised in the commission’s response statement.

In its Friday rant, the Commission termed this move by the two outlets as one-sided reporting marred with misinformation and appealed for the public to download and read the statement for clarity on the matter.