Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission team seeks to regain voter confidence

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is working on a plan to win back public confidence in what it says will help avert voter apathy in 2017.

The commission intends to push the number of registered voters to 18 million by 2017 up from 14.3 million it managed in 2013.

IEBC Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba said they were determined to regain public confidence.

Successive opinion polls have indicated that public confidence in IEBC has been on a downward spiral, amid calls by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) to have the commission overhauled. A survey  by pollsters Ipsos last week indicated that only 16 per cent of voters have “a lot of confidence” in the Isaack Hassan-led body.

Asked about confidence levels on IEBC, Ipsos’ chief researcher Dr Tom Wolf would not point to any specific reason: “Unfortunately we did not ask our respondents a follow up ‘why’ question to their answer. But your guess is as good as mine — the electoral commission has been in news lately for all the wrong reasons, not to mention the sustained campaign by CORD leaders against it”.

It is this lack of confidence that the IEBC will be keen to address. “We are on the final stages of developing a new strategic plan and one of the key areas is to promote inclusion and win back public confidence by directly engaging Kenyans in our activities,” said Mr Chiloba.

Poll results

Of those polled in the Ipsos survey, 35 per cent registered “some confidence” in IEBC while 19 per cent said they had “a little confidence” in the commission. Another 28 per cent of the respondents said they had “no confidence at all” in it.

Chiloba said the commission had also invited Wolf to shed light on the Ipsos findings. “I called Wolf after the poll results were released and he is going to share more information with us,” added Chiloba.

CORD’s Okoa Kenya, in its Referendum Bill, officially called the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2015, has proposed changes to provisions on security, land, devolution, electoral laws, and constitutional commissions and independent offices.

Chiloba said IEBC would ensure that  the next election are deemed by all parties to be free and fair. The 2013 election was dogged by claims of rigging after crucial election equipment reportedly failed.

“We need Sh1.8 billion for voter registration this financial year but the Treasury wants it in the 2016/2017 financial year. It’s a matter still under discussion. We are targeting at least four  million new voters in a mass recruitment drive and such a figure can only be achieved through continuous voter registration,” said Chiloba.

In Western, Central, Nyanza and Rift Valley regions, politicians have been in the forefront in pushing for an aggressive voter registration campaign ahead of the 2017 General Election.

In Western Kenya, Lugari MP Ayub Savula  says they were targeting to register four million voters at the very least. UDF leaders Musalia Mudavadi, Senator Moses Wetang’ula and former MP Cyrus Jirongo have separately supported the voter registration drive, hoping it would play to their advantage.

In Central Kenya, the newly-formed Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) wants to recruit seven million voters.

Youths are running the initiative working with the JAP Reloaded team led by secretary James Mwangi. Similar efforts are being championed by youths in Rift Valley under the chairman of the United Republican Party (URP) national Youth leader, Mr Gideon Keter.

Raila’s call

In Nyanza, CORD leader Raila Odinga has emphasised that local people must register in large numbers to give him a head-start in his bid to become President.

“You can be our foot soldiers only when you have IDs and voter registration cards. You must, therefore, take the voter registration process seriously,” he reiterated. Analysts have in the past raised the re flag over low voter turnouts in Western and Nyanza regions.

The Ipsos poll indicated that Western Kenya had the lowest voter awareness levels in Kenya.

The pollster said only 10 per cent of residents in the region were aware of any ongoing voter registration activities in their locality since the 2013 elections.