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Exactly five years ago today, Catholic Church bishops were telling the electoral commission not to push through with the ballot papers printing contract until a consensus is established among stakeholders for the sake of the credibility of the August 9 election and to lessen controversy on the tender.

The bishops, speaking days after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had awarded the tender to a Dubai-based firm, Al Ghurair amid protests from the National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga, asked the electoral agency to suspend the printing of the ballot papers until the issues raised by the veteran opposition leader were addressed and a consensus reached.

Yesterday, the IEBC sought to allay widespread fears that close to 1.1 million eligible voters could be locked out of the August 9 elections due to several anomalies in the register.

Addressing a press conference, the electoral body’s chairman Wafula Chebukati announced the total number of registered voters eligible to participate in the August 9 election was 22,120,458 voters, allaying fears that millions of voters had been struck off the register for various reasons.