IEBC Denies Receiving Ballot Papers From Uganda

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman, Wafula Chebukati has dismissed reports of ballot papers being sneaked into the country via Uganda.

Speaking during a meeting with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) on Thursday, July 7, Chebukati said that the ballot papers will touch down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi today.

"All the ballot papers will arrive through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. No Ballot papers will come through Uganda. I have seen several reports but as long as we are following the law then we are not worried.

A person showing an excerpt of an IEBC ballot paper. /BUSINESS DAILY

"Let us stop misinforming Kenyans and have a peaceful election," he said.

Chebukati added that the commission will receive the first batch of the ballot papers from the allocated printer and be preserved in a safe house to avoid interference and tampering with any election materials.

"We are only going to print ballot papers to the tune of 22,120,258, which is the number of registered voters per every elective seat - there are no additional ballot papers.

"They are serialized, have security features and are specific to that station," he explained the features of the papers.

Chebukati then denied that the issuance of the tender to a Greek firm mandated with printing the ballot papers was dogged with several questions.

"I want to confirm to you that IEBC is an independent institution. We do our work without fear or favour in accordance with the law. We are not directed by any individual or authority," he noted.

The clarifications come after the Azimio la Umoja coalition claimed that Bungoma Senator Moses Masika Wetangula had met with officials from a Greek company, Inform Lykos (Hellas) SA Holdings.

Suna East MP Junet Mohamed had claimed that there was a deal made during the meeting to have the company awarded the tender to supply 200 million ballot papers to the commission ahead of the August 9 elections.

"When IEBC announced ballot papers tender you sent someone called Makokha Abdalla to Greece and you invited those guys from Greece to Kenya pretending to be people wanting to invest in Bungoma. They had come for a deal with you," he said.

Wetangula however shot back with affirmations that he had never met with officials from the company printing the papers.

"If any letters were written on letterheads indicating they are from the Bungoma Senator’s office, they must be forgeries. I have never written such letters. I do not, and I repeat, I do not know the three foreigners being referred to," he said.

Bungoma senator Moses Wetangula. /FILE