It is a relief for the United Democratic Alliance after the Court of Appeal temporarily suspended a decision directing IEBC to use manual register concurrently with the electronic register during the August 9 election.
Judges Luka Kimaru, Fredrick Ochieng and Mwaniki Gachoka made the ruling after considering the authorities cited by the parties, particularly the 2017 NASA Vs IEBC and two others.
The judges directed they will give the reasons for the decision on 29th August 2022.
“We are giving this ruling in a short form under Rule 34(1) of the Court of Appeal Rules, 2022 due to the urgency of the matter and the fact that the general elections are scheduled to be held tomorrow i.e 9th August, 2022. The reasons for the ruling shall be rendered on 28th August, 2022,” the judges ruled.
In the NASA Vs IEBC ruling, the court ordered IEBC to use the printed register of voters only in instances where the KIEMS kits completely fail with no possibility of repair or replacement.
UDA argued that the integrity of the general election is likely to be compromised by the possibility of misuse of the manual voter register since it lacks safeguards for enhancing credibility.
Through lawyer Elias Mutuma, UDA further said there is an apparent and real likelihood of a serious conflict and confusion in terms of enforcement and implementation of law dealing with the mode of identification of voters during the election.
In an affidavit sworn by the UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina, the party said the judge erred in law by failing to appreciate that there is no room for the use of a manual register as the primary means of voter identification.
