NIS interfering with voter registration just like in 2007 and 2013

Opposition chief Raila Odinga has sensationally claimed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) is heavily involved in the on-going voter registration with the aim of influencing results in August in the same way it did in 2007 and 2013.

Through a statement, Raila claimed NIS is taking BVR kits across the borders into Uganda and Ethiopia and assisting citizens of the two countries to register in preparation for taking part in the August 8 elections.

He said the agency is also assisting citizens of these neighbouring countries to acquire Kenyan identification documents then helping them cross into Kenya and register as voters.

“The NIS is using youth whose data were collected through the dubious National Youth Service exercise and registering them as voters, without their knowledge,” Raila said.

Previous NIS involvement

He claimed this process was responsible for the thousands of multiple registrations and shared identity cards which he and his Cord Principal Kalonzo Musyoka were recently involved in.

Raila said that in the last elections, NIS had its officers absorbed into the ranks of the IEBC as polling clerks and other strategic positions with the sole aim of helping Jubilee attain victory.

He also said in the disputed 2007 elections, NIS was deeply involved in ballot stuffing among other irregularities to help the Party of National Unity (PNU) win.

“The NIS must let the IEBC do its work as an independent institution. The intelligence agency must equally operate as a politically non-partisan and independent institution whose duty it is to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and not interfere with it,” Raila said.

He warned that the country will never accept another “NIS-led electoral theft” and that the agency will break down the nation and “send it to the dogs” if it continues on this path of seeking to influence election results by way of fraud.

Government response

However in a swift rejoinder, the Interior Ministry challenged Raila to record a statement on the allegations and provide authorities with information to carry out investigations and take the necessary action.

“It is incumbent upon a politician of Raila’s caliber to have provided evidence before making such a statement. If indeed there was anything like that, the respectable thing the former Prime Minister ought to do is to record a statement with the relevant authorities so that action can be taken,” the Ministry’s Spokesman Mwenda Njoka said.