Tale Of IEBC Officials Caught Breaking Rules During Elections

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) has exposed a number of malpractices committed by officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as vote counting and tallying continue.

A presiding officer was arrested and detained at Kacheliba Police Station after he was found to have altered presidential election results from Alale ward.

The ODPP, under Noordin Haji, noted that it was following up on the matter before filing the necessary charges.

A photo of ballot boxes at a polling station. /K24 DIGITAL

In another case in Narok, three polling clerks were produced in court for election malpractice.

"Parnade Parmao was seen plucking four ballot papers for Member of County Assembly (MCA) post, Laput Francis marked them at the polling booth, while Nkaampa Laput attempted to rescue Parmao and Laput from arrest," noted the ODPP.

In Migori County, a polling clerk, Duncan Omondi, had willfully prevented a voter from voting at Kosege Primary School Polling Station.

In Nandi Hills Constituency, the ODPP is following up on a case involving 10 suspects for ballot papers which allegedly went missing on voting day.

Earlier on, the office charged two officials; a presiding officer and his deputy who were arrested on Wednesday, August 10 for failing to count ballot papers for the Member of National Assembly, Member of County Assembly and Women Representative.

"Nicholas Nyamuya (Presiding Officer) and Sawiya Kirunda (Deputy Presiding Officer) willfully and unlawfully failed to count ballot papers. Both pleaded not guilty and were released on Ksh300,000 cash bail and Ksh500,000 bond," the statement read, adding that the case is set for mention on Monday, August 15.

The two were in charge of the Utange polling station in Kisauni at the time of the arrest. They had realised that a candidate had gathered more votes.

The arrest came after four IEBC officials were fired by the commission after they were arrested for holding a secret meeting at the home of a former Member of County Assembly (MCA) aspirant in Riat village, Homa Bay County.

An image of police cars in Kenya. /FILE