The Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come out publicly for the first time to apologize for the disfranchisement of the majority of the Diaspora voters in the last Kenyan general elections held in March 4th 2013.
Speaking in a panel titled “Planning for the 2017 Diaspora Vote” at the recently concluded 2013 Kenya Diaspora Conference held in Arlington, Virginia; the IEBC boss stated he regretted that the wider Diaspora was not able to vote in the 2013 vote.
“I would like to first and foremost apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of the commission to the Kenyans living in the United States for you could not be able to vote in the 2013 elections…” Hassan said.
He further added the commission had the goodwill and was intent on ensuring that the Diaspora progressively realized the right to vote in the 2013 elections as enshrined in the constitution and as was evident in the commissions attempts to engage with Kenyans in the US, UK, Australia, South Africa and other countries even to the very last minute.
Hassan stated other factors including the lack of concrete data on where Kenyans resided in the different countries, general logistic challenges, unnecessary lawsuits filed by some members of the Diaspora communities and the last minute intervention by the Cabinet further compounded issue not to forget that the home vote was a historic and unprecedented one that was equivalent to six elections in one.