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The US has called for free and fair elections after the top contenders raised questions on whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is well prepared to administer a credible poll on August 9.
US secretary Antony Blinken said the US was happy that the IEBC had certified candidates for Kenya’s August 9 general election.
Blinken also applauded the beginning of the electoral campaigns in Kenya.
“As I said to Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Omamo last month, the United States stands with Kenyans in support of free, fair, and peaceful elections,” he said.
Blinken’s remarks come days after DP William Ruto held a meeting with European Union envoys where he claimed there were attempts to rig the election.
During the meeting, the UDA presidential candidate alleged that nearly a million voters, mainly from his strongholds, have been irregularly removed from the voters’ register.
However, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati dismissed the claims, saying “data of all voters is intact.”
“Let’s not talk about one million names missing, there is no such a thing, it is not there,” Chebukati said in response to Ruto’s claims.
Ruto on Thursday claimed there have been deletions executed by some functionaries in government determined to undermine the capacity of IEBC to deliver credible, transparent and democratic elections.
“You (EU envoys) have seen in the media that there was an attempt to obliterate names from the IEBC register and almost 800,000 names have somehow disappeared from the registers… It is in the public domain and I think even the IEBC has said they are doing remedial steps,” Ruto said.
Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga also asked the Commission to ensure that country holds free and fair elections.
Raila sensationally claimed- without providing evidence- that some counties have experienced unexplained one million increases in their voters in the register.
The register is undergoing an audit by KPMG and is expected to be gazetted in the coming days once handed over to the IEBC.
The months leading up to and after elections have been violent periods in the country’s post-independence history.
Many have been killed and hundreds displaced during an election cycle since 2007. BY THE STAR