Raila Cleared To Contest for the Presidency

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has given Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential aspirant Raila Odinga the go-ahead to campaign for the position.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati who is the returning officer for Presidential elections declared the Azimio leader a candidate at exactly 11 am on Sunday at the Bomas of Kenya.

“The documentations are in order and I approve the nomination of Raila Odinga as a presidential candidate in the August 9 elections,” he said.

“I hereby present the certificate to Raila Odinga as a presidential candidate.”

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The Azimio leader, for his part, expressed confidence in the IEBC’s ability to conduct fair elections and promised that his camp would conduct itself with decorum during the campaign period.

“We have confidence that the IEBC has got the capacity to conduct free and fair elections, we therefore urge you to live by the script and do exactly what the people of Kenya expect of you,” he said.

“We want to promise you that we are going to conduct ourselves as candidates in a manner that conforms with the requirements of the electoral laws.”

Raila mentioned electronic voter identification and results transmission, voter registration integrity, register audit, proposal to alter the Elections (General) Regulations, returning officer recruiting, and ballot paper printing as some of the issues his team was concerned about.

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Other issues included the Smartmatic elections technology contract and a status of compliance with the statutory timelines outlined in the commission’s amended Elections Operations Plan, which was announced on January 17.

The Azimio flagbearer wanted to know if the commission had devised constitutionally compliant processes for the polling station to national tallying center results transmission channel.

“What measures has the commission put in place to ensure that the provisions of Section 39(1C) of the Elections Act, regarding electronic transmission of results and the publishing of polling result forms on an online public portal, are complied with? What is the status of the supply, delivery, installation, upgrade, testing and simulation of servers of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system?” he posed.

In the event of technical difficulties, the ODM leader questioned the commission’s administrative measures to ensure that all eligible voters exercise their constitutional right to vote and that ineligible individuals do not vote.

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He urged IEBC chairman to provide a county-by-county and constituency-by-constituency breakdown of the voter registration process.

“Did the commission take measures to ensure the register is in compliance with Section 31 of the Data Protection Act, 2019? There are numerous reports by voters who cannot find their data in the register. What is the cause of such a large number of complaints and what is the commission doing to address this concerns before the elections?” he posed.

He challenged the commission to make the findings of its inquiry into the irregular transfer of voters public, as well as the number of voters and polling locations impacted. He also wanted to know if the issue of deceased voters in the voter rolls had been handled.

“There have been reports that the number of voters in some counties has suspiciously grown by up to a million without rational explanation or correlation to population data.” He urged IEBC to provide assurance that it would “thoroughly and transparently”.

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Raila was accompanied by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Gideon Moi (Baringo Senator), Charity Ngilu (Kitui Governor), Junnet Mohamed (Suna East MP), Timothy Bosire (ODM Treasurer), Edwin Sifuna (ODM SG), Sabina Chege (Muranga MP).

Also present was; Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o (Kisumu), John Waluke (Sirisia MP), Governor Ann Kananu (Nairobi), Maina Kamanda (nominated MP), Esther Passaris (Nairobi Woman rep) and Governor Nderitu Muriithi (Laikipia).

Raila is set to unveil his manifesto on Monday at the Nyayo Stadium.