Politics
Wafula Chebukati Invites All Presidential Candidates To A Meeting Next Week
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati has invited all the four presidential candidates to a meeting on Wednesday next week.
The candidates; William Ruto (United Democratic Alliance Party), Raila Odinga (Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance), George Wajackoya of Roots Party, and Waihiga Mwaure of Agano Party will meet with Chebukati at Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club for consultations.
Key on the agenda will be to discuss the printed voter register, the election results path and the harmonization of campaign schedules for the candidates.
“Please note that you may be accompanied to the meeting by not more than five persons,” the IEBC Chairperson said in a circular.
An audit of the Register of Voters (ROV) was recently completed by audit firm KPMG and the final report submitted to IEBC on June 18.
Chebukati stated that a total of 46,232 polling stations have been registered in 2022. This is a 13 per cent increase from 2017 where 40,883 polling stations were registered.
The number of registered voters has also risen from 19.6 million to 22.1 million, equivalent to 12.79 per cent.
According to IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein, the audit report also revealed a massive transfer of voters.
“KPMG analysed the full register and noted that there were transfer transactions processed between 2017 general election and May 2022.
“The analysis of those transfers identified several constituencies and counties showing trends of abnormal voter transfers having been processed in the Register of Voters,” Marjan said.
Deputy President William Ruto has vowed to that his government if given the mandate to lead the country in the August 9 polls will deal with hands-on with ‘State capture.’
According to the Presidential candidate, state policies are being used to facilitate the theft of public funds as corruption had been absorbed into government.
DP William Ruto made these calims while speaking to the Reuters in an interview.
“We have no intention of prosecuting President Uhuru Kenyatta, but we have every intention of dealing with State capture. It cannot be business as usual,” the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate said.
DP Ruto’s running mate, Rigathi Gachagua also alluded to said State capture, saying those involved will be dealt with should Kenya Kwanza form the next government.
“We will not go after individuals. We will go after all those in state capture and conflict of interest,” Gachagua said in a joint media broadcast.
The Mathira MP vaguely explained that it was “people in power who have used or are using their offices to use up public resources to their advantage,” when asked who or what State capture was.
The DP has also revealed plans of bringing to end the Kenya’s national debt, which currently stands at Sh9 trillion, in an exclusive interview with international media.
He said the country has the capacity to handle the debt situation, and that they as Kenya Kwanza have mapped out plans of how to go about it, should they win.
“We will put the brakes on more borrowing. It may not come to zero but we will begin the journey to slow down on more borrowing,” the DP said.
Campaigns hit fever pitch and candidates scramble for airtime to sell their agendas with just eighteen (18) days left as Kenya will soon be headed to the General Election.
Sonko has increased the intense in the race for Mombasa county which already has aspirants from the UDA and ODM parties.
Sonko has finally been cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to contest for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.
On Thursday, July 14 2022, Sonko in the accompany of his supporters was given the green light.
The former Nairobi governor was invited by the IEBC to submit his letter for clearance as per a letter addressed to him earlier.
“The venue will be the IEBC Mombasa County offices and you are expected to submit your papers on July 14, 2022 between 2pm and 4pm,” Swalha Ibrahim the returning officer said.
The letter to Sonko came after a high court ruled that the politician doesn’t be disqualified from vying for governor noting that the governor was eligible to run for office. The commission said it could not head to the courts to appeal the decision as time could not allow.
Addressing the media after the clearance, Sonko said his candidature seeks to solve the problems of the people in the Coastal city and that he was bringing a new awakening in the city.
Sonko said he was not worried about the short time time line he has to undertake the campaigns in the large city noting that he was drawing a campaign schedule to begin immediately.
“We must campaign, we have few days but we will utilize them properly. We can do two days per constituency or a day per constituency,” Sonko noted.
Condition Monitoring Analyst at Mantrac Kenya Ltd
Content Manager – Specialist Consultant at British Council
