The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has asked Kenyans to verify if they were erroneously listed as Building Bridges Imitative (BBI) supporters.
On Thursday, the poll agency published a list of verified BBI supporters under the Building Bridges Initiative Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
In a public notice signed by IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati, he stated that the poll agency undertook a data cleaning exercises of the BBI signatures collected and removed those with incomplete details such as missing ID numbers, names, not a registered voter among others.
However, IEBC stated that there could be instances where one’s name has been listed as a BBI supporter against his/her consent.
Should this be the case, the affected Kenyans were asked to report to IEBC by writing to the CEO and explain why their names should be expunged from the list.
“Anyone who has been captured as a supporter without their consent can report to the Commission by writing to the Acting Commission Secretary/CEO indicating their objections.
“The duly signed objection letter containing Name, ID number and contact telephone number should either be scanned and emailed to [email protected] or dropped at the IEBC offices latest by 5pm on Monday, January 25, 2021,” read a statement signed by IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
IEBC embarked on verification of signatures on December 30, 2020. Verification of data signed in hardcopy took off on New Year’s Eve.
For the BBI referendum process to be launched, there needed to be one million credible signatures as stipulated by the Constitution.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM boss Raila Odinga have been pushing for a referendum ahead of the 2022 elections.
Once IEBC gives the signature verification a thumbs up, all the 47 county assemblies will debate the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and either support or object it.
A constitutional threshold of 24 county assemblies supporting the Bill is required for a referendum to take place.
County assemblies have three months to debate the Bill and make a resolution to either support or opposes it.
It will also be presented to the National Assembly and the Senate where support by the majority in the two Houses will deem it passed.
It will then be presented to the President for assent.
