Wiper candidate in the Makueni senate race Kethi Kilonzo was at pains to locate the polling centre where she says she registered as a voter.
While appearing before the IEBC’s Nomination Dispute Resolution Committee at the Milimani law courts in a case challenging her candidature on the basis that she is allegedly not a registered voter; Kethi said she was registered in December 2012 at a primary school in Ngong Forest. When asked where Ngong forest was she was unable to answer lawyers acting for the TNA party and two voters challenging her eligibility stating that her “geography is very shaky.”
Kethi further admitted that the voter registration details used to clear her by the IEBC differed with those in the acknowledgement slip that she said she received when she registered. Kethi also acknowledged that there was no registration centre known as “Karen Ward” as it was the polling stations within the ward where voters registered.
Kethi further stated that when she presented her acknowledgement slip, party card and other documents to the returning officer in Makueni for clearance the returning officer was unable to find her name in the register. She said the returning officer then asked her to step out of the tent where the clearance was to take place so that he could call Nairobi and confirm her registration after which Kethi was called in and cleared to vie in the Makueni seat on the basis of her acknowledgement slip.
She said that her name not appearing in the register was not an isolated case stating that when she was acting as a lawyer for AFRICOG in a petition challenging the presidential results of the March 4 general elections.
She said the IEBC did acknowledge that there were several people who were allowed to vote yet their names did not appear in the register, stating that the commission admitted that some data was lost in the Biometric Voter Registration system and the green book was used as a reference instead of the BVR.
Kethi also admitted that she did not vote in the elections, but when asked why she failed to vote, she declined to answer stating that she would not divulge her private matters to the public. She however denied that she failed to vote in the election because she was not a registered voter.
Kethi also said that she registered with a passport that had expired in 2001 as well as a photocopy of her identification card and not her original ID as it had been misplaced.
The hearing for complaints challenging the eligibility of candidates cleared to vie by the IEBC in the Makueni senate by-election began today.
Two voters, Agnes Mutindi Ndetei and Philes Nthenya Muinde, both registered in Makueni county had filed a complaint with the IEBC challenging Kethi’s bid for the seat arguing that Kethi is not a registered voter.
TNA had also written a similar complaint to the commission stating that the voter registration details used to clear Kethi by the commission were forgeries and further recommending that she should be charged with fraud over the matter.
The two cases filed against Kethi have been consolidated by the committee. The Wiper party had also filed a complaint asking that the committee disqualify Narc party candidate Philip Kaloki. The committee hearing the disputes has seven days, that is until Monday, to deliver its ruling on the cases.
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