NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says it is dedicated to working closely with the media to deliver correct information to the public to ensure the electoral process is transparent.
Speaking during the National Election Pre-Conference in Nairobi, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati stated that the media is a major partner in ensuring the process of elections is transparent as they have the trust of the public in playing their watchdog role.
“Let us work together, let us ensure that Kenya as we know it that elections become a transparent thing,” he said.
Chebukati further noted that the task of election management is not a one-man-task hence the need of working closely with the media to deliver credible, fair and transparent elections to the citizens as that is what they are mandated to do.
“The media are our eyes and ears. For us as a commission to manage elections, we can’t do it on our own, we need the media to work with us,” he said.
The electoral agency chair pointed that this journey which has been long kicked off when he first met with the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) and the Editors Guild but it materialized on 4th of March 2022 when the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed.
He further alluded that the accreditation portal for accreditation of journalists to cover the elections will be opened even though the deadline passed.
“Even though the deadline for accreditation closed on 28th of June, but we said for the media we must open it up and we must work together,” he indicated.
Out of the 4,068 journalist who applied to be accredited by the electoral management body, 4,024 have been accredited.
“2,000 badges have been printed and will be distributed next week, another 2,000 is ongoing for printing now,” he said.
He requested the media to be present in the polling stations and tallying stations to help in relaying results to the public.
“We would like to have 46,000 media personalities reporting from all the 46,000 polling stations. That is what we would like to see as a commission. It is our wish that the media is present in all the polling stations and tallying stations so that we may walk this journey together,” he added.
He further appreciated the major role the media plays and since the commission acknowledges the major role the media plays in agenda setting especially during the elections.
“We will have live reporting of all the vents around the elections, we will have live reporting of the results as they are announced by the commission. The media has a very big role in shaping elections. The media has a choice of either sitting and criticize the electoral process and the electoral commission and write negative stories or they can work with the commission to help it to grow. That is a choice the media can make,” he added.
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