The High Court has ordered IEBC to include the manual voter register as part of identification of voters in next week’s general election.
In a ruling, Justice Mugure Thande said the decision to abandon the manual register in identification of voters is a violation of the constitution.
“IEBC has failed to make administrative arrangements for the conduct of the elections designed to facilitate elections and not deny an eligible citizen the right to vote as required by law,” the court ruled.
The ruling further pointed out that if the decision is allowed to remain unchallenged some voters would be denied their right to vote, in case one’s details cannot be picked by the KIEMs kit.
“IEBC’s decision not to use the printed voter register, there is a real risk of disenfranchising eligible voters, this court must therefore step in through its supervisory jurisdiction to ensure that the commission though independent operates subject to the law,” Mugure ruled.
“Its common knowledge that data and devices such as mobile phones and even computers which don’t require internet do get lost or corrupted or interfered with through criminal and human elements,” he added.
This is after IEBC announced that it will not use printed registers on the polling day, saying they would create an avenue for electoral malpractices.
Earlier, the Azimio Coalition had raised concern over the use of only the electronic kits citing technology failure, and urged the commission to provide manual registers as a complementary method of voter identification.
IEBC however did not compromise on its decision to only use the KIEMs Kit.