PCEA church to IEBC – Listen to every complaint, act wisely for peaceful polls

Presbyterian Church of East Africa(PCEA) moderator of the General Assembly Reverend Thegu Mutahi has urged IEBC to listen to the grievances raised by all players in the forthcoming general elections.

Speaking during the burial of Rev Geoffrey Muriithi who was the church moderator of Nyeri Hill Presbytery, in Mathira, the PCEA head who is the moderator of the 21st General Assembly said that as elections near, there is an urgent need to give a hearing to all parties as a way of guaranteeing fairness in regard to how the elections will be conducted.

He however said that even as some of the grievances are heard and attended to by the electoral body, the church’s position is that the electronic register of voters must be the main register to be used during the polling day and the manual registration should be used in case of an eventuality.

“Much as there is this push for the manual register, previously it has had issues and it’s like many of us wanted an electronic one and that is what they are offering but incase anybody would feel aggrieved if we do not have a manual register, why not provide it, not necessarily for use but let it be available. But we would pray as a church we use the electronic register mainly.” He said.

Rev. Thegu noted that there have been major electoral irregularities with the use of manual registers in the past elections, stating that the church would not wish this to happen again.

He nevertheless observed that it will do no harm to have it as a backup in the event the electronic one fails just for complimentary purposes.

“We believe that IEBC is well prepared as they have had adequate time to prepare and have learnt a lot from the previous election having managed it and therefore we are expecting free and fair elections.” the reverend added.

The moderator further stressed the need to observe peace during this period putting the burden on the shoulders of each Kenyan by urging them not to antagonize others over varying choices as elections will come and go.

He called on all Kenyans to treat political differences between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto with a pinch of salt.

He indicated that the two will most likely embrace each as they used to in their initial days in office and probably after elections, thus leaving those who have taken them seriously to hate each other as ultimate losers.

“I want to urge Kenyans not to take the differences between president Uhuru and his deputy seriously as they are not enemies and they are likely to resume their friendship after elections,” he stated.