IEBC Dispels Reports on Ballot Papers Being Detained at JKIA

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has dismissed reports that security agencies are detaining ballot papers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The commission termed reports claiming that election materials allegedly imported to the country outside the indicated schedule are being held at the Nairobi airport as fake.

“The correct position is that today morning the Commission received stickers to aid labelling and distribution of election materials. The JKIA security agencies in their normal procedure were trying to validate the stickers with the Commission,” IEBC said in a statement on Thursday.

The Wafula Chebukati-led commission further reiterated its commitment to overseeing a transparent, fair and credible election.

IEBC received the first batch of ballot papers at JKIA on July 7th, with Chebukati indicating that a total of 22,120,258 ballot papers had been printed for all the six elective positions ahead of the August 9th general elections.

“There is no additional ballot paper. We know very well there has never been 100 percent voter turnout so if there will be a spoilt vote, it will be accommodated within that number,” Chebukati told the media.

Chebukati says ballot papers will not be printed in braille for visually-impaired voters, adding that this group will be assisted to vote by trained IEBC officials who will man polling stations across the country.

He noted that despite the commission's efforts to make the election more inclusive for persons with disabilities, braille ballot papers will not be available as they were not factored into the election's budget.

"In this coming election we are not going to have braille material in the form of ballot papers. As a commission we have actually moved a step ahead like we have voter education material in braille," said Chebukati.

"We would like to introduce braille ballot papers in future elections but we did not have a budget for that this time. We shall factor it in our budget and in future elections we shall ensure that we have braille material especially ballot papers, if we will still be using them.”