Hussein Marjan, CEO of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has blasted Kenyan politicians for having what he considers to be poor intellectual levels.
Voters should cease idolizing politicians, Mr. Marjan advised during a briefing on the commission’s readiness for the General Election on August 9 on Thursday.
“We have glorified politicians to the extent that everybody wants to be a politician… and sometimes I ask, when we clear candidates they are at the bottom ladder of the IQ levels if you look at their certificates,” he said.
If Kenyans understood about the academic credentials of the political class, they wouldn’t treat them with apparent exaltation, claims Mr. Marjan.
“I bet if you go to Parliament and look at their certificates, most of them have passes or Lower Second Class Honours. That category of people are always noisemakers,” he said.
Mr. Marjan also seized the opportunity to clarify the circumstances under which a manual register may be used in the elections, with only 32 days until voting.
This is in response to concerns voiced by political parties on the use of a digital register during the next election.
A manual register, in Marjan’s opinion, will only be necessary when three distinct KIEMS Kits are unable to locate a voter.
“If you turn up and for some reasons we are not able to identify you it says we replace the kit, once we replace the kit it will function normally if it refuses, we have a third kit and if that is not working that is when we can resort to a manual register,” Marjan said on Thursday.
