NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 8 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in partnership with the National Police Service Commission (NPS) will train 250,000 police officers on the management of election security ahead of the August polls.
The Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marjan Hussein stated that the training will equip the officers with the necessary skills to handle the General Election.
“Security during electioneering is critical especially during voting, vote counting and transmission of the results,” he said on Friday during the launch of the Election Security Arrangement Project (ESAP).
The programme according to the Commission is a 10-year plan and has been implemented, evaluated and redesigned out of the recognition by the stakeholders “that good must give way to better”.
It focuses on four thematic areas namely: capacity building, building on what has been done from 2013, it focused on coordination. Communication and public engagement.
Marjan pointed out that the Commission had learnt from its previous mistakes especially on the management of security and assured that things will be different during the August polls.
“A peaceful election environment facilitates a free, fair and credible election and avoids security problems that would otherwise compromise the integrity of records,” he said.
The Commission Vice Chair Juliana Cherara noted that the officers once trained and dispatched to their respective polling stations they will be answerable to the Commission.
“For IEBC to ensure that election is free, fair and without violence we rely on the National Police Service, and this is enshrined in Elections Act, Section 105. The officers once deployed they will become election officers and will no longer take instructions from where they usually take, but they will be subject to the presiding officer at that station,” she said.
She observed that the Commission is prepared to deliver credible polls devoid of any chaos.
“Our Constitution gives us the general principle of an electoral system that it should be free, fair and with no intimidation and that is why we have partnered with other stakeholders to ensure that the election should be safeguarded,” she said.
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu urged the Commission to also involve the political class in the training.
“Politicians should also be trained because they are the biggest beneficiaries in any election,” she said.
