Win for UDA as Appellate court suspends use of manual register

 The Court of Appeal has ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to use the electronic voter register as the primary identification mode in Tuesday’s General Election.

In their ruling , the three-judge bench temporarily suspended an earlier High Court decision that allowed what seemed as unreserved use of the manual register.

The Court of Appeal ruling follows an urgent suit filed by the DP William Ruto led United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

“Upon careful consideration of the appeal, we are of the view that appellant has made a case for the grant of the orders of a stay of the entire judgement delivered on August 4, 2022, pending the hearing and determination of the intended appeal,” Justices Fred Ochieng, Luka Kimaru and Paul Mwaniki Gachoka directed.

In the interim orders, the judges said IEBC can rely direction issued by the Supreme Court in the 2017 presidential petition by the National Super Alliance (NASA) when the court made a case for the use of technology to identify voter unless a complete failure of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) is reported.