IEBC battles criticism of its self-performance evaluation

IEBC Chairman Isaac Hassan

By Digital Reporter

Nairobi; Kenya: The Independenmt Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come out battling criticism of its performance questioned by a section of media reports.

The acting Chief Executive Officer and secretary to the commission Ms Betty Nyabuto sent a clarification statement to media houses early Monday morning rebutting the critics.

The Commission has clarified that it hired external auditors to evaluate its performance and was within timelines in trying to gauge its handling to the March 2013 General Election.

The clarifications come against a background of a raft of proposlas to separate electiosn for presidential race from those parliamentary and county positions.

Here is the 10-point clarification from IEBC:

1. Post-election evaluation is an integral component of an electoral cycle and is a best practice for any forward-looking Electoral Management Body (EMB).

2. Following the March 4, 2013 General Elections, post-election evaluation has been on-going and is yet to be finalized. This is within the timelines set out by international best practices which require post-election evaluation to be carried out 15 to 25 months after the elections.

3. The Commission allowed for external audit of the voters register by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the Institute for Education in Democracy (IED).

4. IED concluded that the Voters Register used in the 2013 General Elections largely met international standards for an accurate, complete and up-to-date register. The IED audit found the voter register to be 99.1per cent accurate while IEBC had its accuracy at 99.8 per cent.

5. In the 2013 General Elections, the Commission used one Principal Voters Register (comprising of voters with biometrics and without biometrics). It was accurate, complete and reliable.

6. Allegations that the Commission did not know the number of voters registered are completely false. As at the time of going to elections, the number was 14,338,781 and well known to the Commission.

7. In the meantime the Commission will publish on its website all the evaluations done by independent third parties on Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVID), the Results Transmission System (RTS), Biometric Voter Identification (BVR) and the procurement processes undertaken in relation to the General Elections.

8. The Commission has never asked for a Commission of Inquiry into the Results Transmission System.

9. The sentiments captured by sections of the media are drawn from the various internal and external post-election evaluation stakeholders forums organized by the Commission. They are deemed to be individual views, opinions, complaints and matters canvassed during election petitions which are not necessarily factual.

10. The Commission will publish and disseminate the final post elections evaluation report to all its stakeholders including media, after incorporating the input and comments from all the post elections stakeholders’ forums held.