Religious leaders in Uasin Gishu County are challenging the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to ensure that Tuesday’s elections are free, fair, and credible.
Speaking separately, the Bishops drawn from the Catholic Church the Anglican Church of Kenya, and the African Inland Church argued that the Wafula Chebukati-led agency has a constitutional mandate to preside over an electoral exercise that will yield a result that reflects the decision made by Kenyans when they wake up to cast their votes on August 9th.
“We trust IEBC to give us the right results. Whoever will be elected our next leader, we expect everybody to support him.” Rev Bernard Koskei, the Provost of St. Mathews ACK Eldoret said during a church service Sunday.
His views resonated well with those of Catholic Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Eldoret Diocese who reiterated that the commission ought to carry out the eagerly-awaited electoral process in a transparent way.
“The problem is not in voting. The problem comes after the voting. IEBC must conduct the poll in a very transparent way.” He said
Rev. David Ng’ang’a, the Lead Pastor of AIC Fellowship Eldoret has to exercise impartiality and ensure that it conducts the polls that reflect the wishes of Kenyans. He called on IEBC to resist attempts to tamper with the exercise.
“The focus is on the REFEREE. We hope they will conduct this election with a lot of integrity. We encourage the IEBC to be fair and follow the law.” He said
Rev. Ng’ang’a added: “As a church, we are praying for IEBC, especially Chairman Wafula Chebukati to do the right thing.”
The three clergymen also dismissed reports to the effect that tension has gripped Uasin Gishu County over the upcoming poll terming the claims misleading.
“We heard there have been leaflets being distributed in Uasin Gishu but we haven’t seen any. Maybe there is anxiety in some places, but it is largely peaceful here,” said Rev Koskei of ACK
His Catholic counterpart in fact doesn’t understand why the region has been mapped out as one of the likely political violence hotspots.
Bishop Kimengich said; “we are not happy when we are referred to as a violence hotspot. Uasin Gishu is peaceful. People are calm. They are just waiting to cast their votes.”
