IEBC allays fears over Kiems kit stolen in Moyale while charging
An IEBC polling clerk uses a Kiems kit to identify a voter.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has allayed fears over the stolen KIEMS kit in the Moyale sub-county only a few hours before the August 9 polls.
Marsabit county IEBC Returning Officer Joseph Mukewa explained that the KIEMS kit mysteriously disappeared from a polling station at Uran Primary School while it was being charged.
“We want to assure voters in Moyale sub-county that they have nothing to fear over the reportedly lost KIEMS kit at Uran Primary School since precautionary measures have already been put in place to secure the electoral process and to avert the manipulation of the gadget by any mischievous persons to subvert the integrity of the August 9 polls,” Mr Mukewa said.
The IEBC official shook off the concerns over the possible security vulnerabilities of the electronic kit to affect or disrupt the voting process.
IEBC has since replaced the stolen kit and put efforts to avert any manipulation or exploitation of the gadget.
Mr Mukewa said the gadget that contained crucial data could only be accessed through the QR code which no IEBC official can manage.
He spoke only a few hours after the conclusion of the opening of the IEBC pellets at Moi Girls High School in Marsabit town. The exercise was overseen by IEBC, political party agents, and the public.
Opening of the pellets
During the opening of the pellets, Saku constituency Returning Officer Lokadio Sanchan assured the internally displaced persons in the inter-ethnic conflict hotspots that security had been beefed up in the affected areas.
Mr Sanchan said the electoral agency had been collaborating with the sub-county security agencies to ensure that no polling station was affected during the polls on Tuesday.
He cited the Gabbra scheme as one of the adversely affected areas where all the residents fled due to ethnic killings.
However, by last week, all the voters had returned to the area to cast their votes for the preferred leaders due to the heavy presence of security personnel.
“We have all the strategies in place to ensure that all the internally displaced persons and the nomadic residents get the opportunity to cast their votes on August 9, 2022,” Mr Sanchan said.
Mr Sanchan asserted that IEBC was keen to ensure that no hitch interrupts the polls.
Further strategies had been put in place to ensure the nomadic persons who moved with their livestock to far-flung areas came back to cast their votes.
IEBC had also availed mobile polling centres in areas where the herders had pitched camp.
Mr Sanchan urged the public to come out in large numbers on Tuesday without any restraint or fear to exercise their civic right by voting in their leaders of choice.
