Ruto Asks IEBC to Give Raila Access to Ballot Printing Exercise

By Kevin Koech

Posted on 7 July 2022

Deputy President William Ruto has hit out at ODM leader Raila Odinga over elections rigging claims ahead of the August 9 General Elections.

Following rigging claims by the ODM leader, the DP asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to take Raila to witness the printing of ballot papers.

Speaking in a campaign trail, the Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate said he has no problem with the electoral commission, adding that he is ready for the election.

Ruto said Raila can be given the access to witnessing the printing of ballot papers as long as the election is conducted on August 9.

“I’m asking IEBC to take the Kitendawili man to see where the ballot papers are being printed, even if he wants his brother to be in charge of the election so long as election is held on August 9 because Kenyans have decided to send him home,” Ruto said.

He advised his competitors to prepare for the elections instead of issuing threats and spreading propaganda.

“What am requesting my competitors is to prepare for the elections, Kenyans will decide. They should not start issuing threats and propaganda,” Ruto added.

WSR:
We have no problem with the IEBC. The people will decide. Stop the excuses and prepare to accept the results of the August 9th Presidential election. pic.twitter.com/IIvY0C9mj3

— Hussein Mohamed, MBS. (@HusseinMohamedg) July 6, 2022

Raila Odinga has hinted at boycotting the August 9 General Elections if the IEBC fails to provide the manual and electronic voter register.

The former Prime Minister alleged a plan to rig elections in 10,000 polling stations by sneaking in 200 ballot papers in each polling station.

As such, Raila said this will see his opponent get over 2 million extra votes.

“That is why we’re saying that there must be a manual register at every polling station, it is not negotiable

“We’re telling the IEBC they must have a manual register along with the biometric identification of voters on that day; failure to which, there will be no election. Kama sio hivyo hakuna uchaguzi,” he said.

Chebukati has since dismissed claims that the commission will print extra ballot papers, clarifying that papers printed are equal to the number of registered voters.

“Today, we are receiving the first batch of ballot papers. All ballot papers will arrive from JKIA. No ballot papers are arriving from Uganda,” Chebukati said.

He explained that it is impossible to print extra ballot papers.

“All ballot papers are serialized. We are printing ballot papers, which is the number of registered voters. And then we will print the exact same number for the six elective seats

“There is nothing like extra ballot papers being printed. We usually do not have a 100 per cent voter turnout. So, we will not have any extra papers,” Chebukati said.

He went ahead to add;

“If a polling station has 600 voters, those are only ones that have been printed no more as claimed. Agents should have a copy of the result forms & take a photo. Results announced at the polling station are final.”