National tallying centre goes spiritual as results stream in
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati addressing the media at Bomas of Kenya which is the national tallying center on August 9, 2022.
That challenging moments call for spiritual nourishment to establish a constant communication with God to guide through the processes, is not out of this world. It’s what the believers do every other moment.
Some of these spiritual nourishments have been invoked to test the spirits to see whether they are of God. Proverbs 11:14 proclaims that where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is plenty.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has not been left behind in seeking this spiritual nourishment especially in updates on the General Election that was held yesterday.
The Bomas of Kenya auditorium, the venue of the IEBC’s national tallying centre, where the updates are being delivered periodically, has become more of a Church event especially whenever the commission is about to give an update over what is happening across all the electoral areas in the country.
Unlike the previous exercises where the venue was reduced into a shouting contest between the opposing groups in the election and also where the commission chairman would stroll from a room, make an announcement and disappear as he came with his entourage, this time round it was different.
It has become solemn as was observed yesterday during the regular updates.
Before IEBC chairman Mr Wafula Chebukati could give an update, the national anthems of Kenya and the East African Community (EAC) played first.
The spiritual songs followed after which Bishop John Obala of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), leading the members of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) was called upon to give a brief sermon.
This happened as those in the room- the media, agents of various political parties and candidates, security officers, various election observers among others, followed keenly.
Winners and losers
The choir groups that performed intermittently during the periodic updates are Mtakatifu Kizito choir from the neighbouring Tanzania, Muungano choir and Mzalendo choir.
Bishop Obala reminded Kenyans that in every contest, there are always winners and losers.
That the losers can only seek court redress and that no one should incite Kenyans into violence as has happened in the past.
Quoting from the Book of Peter 3:10-11, Bishop Obala told Kenyans to seek and pursue peace even as he noted that counselling for all candidates and supporters after the election is important.
“Kenyans, let’s continue upholding peace and prayer together,” Bishop Obala said.
After the brief sermon, it was another round for the choir to entertain before ushering in Mr Chebukati, who said that the commission will only start posting results of the presidential election from various polling stations in the country once it has verified the form 34As as transmitted by the Presiding Officers.
The presidential election results are tallied, announced and declared at the National Tallying Centre.
However the Governorship, Senatorial and Woman County MP positions are required to be announced and declared at the county tallying centres with the results of the member of the National Assembly and MCA being announced at the constituency tallying centre.
Mr Chebukati said that the commission expects the Constituency Returning Officers (CROs) to deliver forms 34As physically at the Bomas of Kenya from today morning to pave the way for the verification and tallying processes.
The IEBC boss also noted that areas of Kakamega, Nairobi, Makueni and Isiolo where voting was delayed due to logistical issues among others were allowed more time to finalize the various processes before transmitting forms 34As to the National Tallying Centre.
Mr Chebukati further announced that the Results Transmission System (RTS) that is part of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (Kiems), used as a primary voter identification in the voting process, has been configured to send results to the National Tallying Centre only once.
