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ECK Rejected Electronic Vote
Tallying
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
9 February 2008
Standard Reporter
Had Electoral Commission of Kenya accepted a US-funded
computerised results reporting system, the country would not have
slid into anarchy.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Mr James Swan,
said as Washington piled more pressure and said that it will not
be "business as usual" with Nairobi unless and until the current
crisis is resolved "through difficult, but necessary reforms".
"In June last year, the ECK rejected a US-funded computerised
results reporting system on the grounds that human staff were more
reliable at reporting results than computers," Swan said, while
testifying at a congressional hearing on the political crisis on
Thursday.
America was the largest donor to the United Nations Development
Programme's Sh791 million election assistance programme.
Unicef, Goodwill Ambassador, Ms Mia Farrow, chairman Kenya
National Commission for Human Rights, Mr Maina Kiai, former
Nominated MP, Ms Njoki Ndungu and Mr Gregory Gottlieb from USAid,
Kenya, attended the congressional hearing.
Swan said due to tampering with the reporting documents and the
destruction of most physical ballots before the official results
were announced, it is impossible to determine who won the
presidential election.
"Kenyans turned out in large numbers to vote and the voting itself
was peaceful the serious flaws in the election took place at the
national centre as reporting results forms from the constituencies
appear to have been altered, destroyed or otherwise manipulate,"
said Swan.
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