CORD PRESS RELEASE 15TH MAY 2014
The CORD Coalition takes great exception with the sentiments expressed by the IEBC Chair and his IEBC Commissioners regarding the conduct of the 4th March election. We wish to state as follows
1. That IEBC has no moral authority to comment on the voter turnout during the last general election for the following reasons:
• The Commission had fluid voter registers that kept oscillating with changing circumstances. This was a clear scheme to accommodate their cooked figures as evidenced through audit reports by various organizations
• The Commission deliberately bungled the Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVID) or otherwise set them up for failure ab-initio. It is this devices that would have ascertained the voter turnout with razor accuracy. The argument that the low voter turn-out in CORD areas accounted for the coalition’s loss is frivolous, hopeless, scandalous and malicious to say the least. It is a belated attempt to sanitize the flagrant rape that the commission visited on the democratic rights of Kenyans.
2. That the assertion by IEBC that majority of eligible voters did not register in CORD areas and therefore significantly affected the coalition’s performance is both cynical and immoral in substance. It is on record that the commission orchestrated an evil voter registration exercise that was designed to produce certain results by disproportionately allocating few BVR machines in CORD areas where in many instances over 5 polling stations shared one BVR machine. These areas could therefore not achieve the same number of registered voters compared to the jubilee zones where the BVRs were sufficiently availed.
3. That the IEBC in a clear sign of moral and integrity retrogression proceeded to deploy a different voter register from the one gazetted in February for purposes of the election without notifying either the participating parties or the public as is by law required. This can only have been a promotion of a well-conceived plan to tilt the scales in the elections.
4. That the IEBC failed miserably in its constitutional duty to conduct a robust national wide voter civic education and awareness campaign. It must be remembered that it is the solemn duty of the commission to mobilize and register voters using the billions of taxpayers’ money allocated to them for the same purpose. The flawed attempt to shift this responsibility to parties must be condemned in the strongest terms possible
5. That the proposal by IEBC to stagger the elections will not impeach the corrosive damage that the commission inflicted on itself by bungling the election and descending to the arena of the contest. It is a belated attempt to run away from taking responsibility for the various actions and omissions during the 4th March elections. The golden truth is that the current officials of the Commission must be send packing to pave way for reconstitution of the commission with people who cherish high democratic ideals, democracy and strict adherence to electoral laws. It will be unbearably expensive to an already overburdened Kenyan taxpayer by staggering the election.
To the contrary, we propose the devolution of the IEBC as an organization to the county level so that election results are managed and reported at the county level as it happens in South Africa where voting districts and provinces only report their aggregated results to the national aggregation centre.
FROM CORD SECRETARIAT
The CORD Coalition takes great exception with the sentiments expressed by the IEBC Chair and his IEBC Commissioners regarding the conduct of the 4th March election. We wish to state as follows
1. That IEBC has no moral authority to comment on the voter turnout during the last general election for the following reasons:
• The Commission had fluid voter registers that kept oscillating with changing circumstances. This was a clear scheme to accommodate their cooked figures as evidenced through audit reports by various organizations
• The Commission deliberately bungled the Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVID) or otherwise set them up for failure ab-initio. It is this devices that would have ascertained the voter turnout with razor accuracy. The argument that the low voter turn-out in CORD areas accounted for the coalition’s loss is frivolous, hopeless, scandalous and malicious to say the least. It is a belated attempt to sanitize the flagrant rape that the commission visited on the democratic rights of Kenyans.
2. That the assertion by IEBC that majority of eligible voters did not register in CORD areas and therefore significantly affected the coalition’s performance is both cynical and immoral in substance. It is on record that the commission orchestrated an evil voter registration exercise that was designed to produce certain results by disproportionately allocating few BVR machines in CORD areas where in many instances over 5 polling stations shared one BVR machine. These areas could therefore not achieve the same number of registered voters compared to the jubilee zones where the BVRs were sufficiently availed.
3. That the IEBC in a clear sign of moral and integrity retrogression proceeded to deploy a different voter register from the one gazetted in February for purposes of the election without notifying either the participating parties or the public as is by law required. This can only have been a promotion of a well-conceived plan to tilt the scales in the elections.
4. That the IEBC failed miserably in its constitutional duty to conduct a robust national wide voter civic education and awareness campaign. It must be remembered that it is the solemn duty of the commission to mobilize and register voters using the billions of taxpayers’ money allocated to them for the same purpose. The flawed attempt to shift this responsibility to parties must be condemned in the strongest terms possible
5. That the proposal by IEBC to stagger the elections will not impeach the corrosive damage that the commission inflicted on itself by bungling the election and descending to the arena of the contest. It is a belated attempt to run away from taking responsibility for the various actions and omissions during the 4th March elections. The golden truth is that the current officials of the Commission must be send packing to pave way for reconstitution of the commission with people who cherish high democratic ideals, democracy and strict adherence to electoral laws. It will be unbearably expensive to an already overburdened Kenyan taxpayer by staggering the election.
To the contrary, we propose the devolution of the IEBC as an organization to the county level so that election results are managed and reported at the county level as it happens in South Africa where voting districts and provinces only report their aggregated results to the national aggregation centre.
FROM CORD SECRETARIAT
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