IEBC: These are the areas where manual registers may be used

At a press conference on Tuesday, IEBC vice chairperson Juliana Cherera announced that 84 polling stations in Makueni county's Kibwezi West constituency had been approved to use the manual register.

Another 154 polling stations in Kakamega County, specifically in the Matungu, Mumias West, and Mumias East constituencies, will use manual registers as well.

She noted that returning officers in those regions wrote to the commission seeking permission to use the manual registers, citing irreparable problems with the KEIMS kits.

"The areas have been ascertained and the returning officers in those regions have written emails to the commission asking to be given authority to use the manual register," she said.

She also responded to reports of KIEMS Kit failures in several polling stations across the country.

Cherera affirmed that the commission is working closely with its ICT officers on the ground to resolve reported issues. 

"ICT officers are on the ground, when they are called upon at the polling station they check they ascertain if the problem is the failure of the kit and not any other failure," Cherera said.

She added that the commission will be using the procedure entailed in a ruling given by the Court of Appeal regarding the manual register.

The ruling ordered the IEBC to use the printed register of voters only when the KIEMS kits completely fail with no possibility of repair or replacement.