Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has strongly opposed the use of Bomas of Kenya as the national tallying centre for elections.
He argues that election results should be finalised at the constituency level instead of being processed at a central location.
Omtatah suggests that Kenya should adopt an election system similar to that of the United States, where results are declared at different locations rather than a single tallying centre.
Speaking during an interview on NTV on Monday, March 17, Omtatah criticised the current role of Bomas in the electoral process. He stated that the Kenyan Constitution already provides a clear structure for announcing election results, making the use of a central tallying centre unnecessary.
According to him, results should be finalised at polling stations and announced at the constituency level without requiring further tallying at Bomas.
Kenya Should Follow the U.S. Election Model
Omtatah emphasised that Kenya should take inspiration from the U.S. election system, where the winner of the presidential election is known immediately after the voting process ends. However, official confirmation and endorsement of results happen later.
“In the U.S., by November 6, people already know who has won the presidential election. The formal endorsement only happens in January. We can adopt a similar system and do away with Bomas as the tallying centre,” Omtatah explained.
He further argued that every constituency should handle its tallying and announce results locally, just as different states in the U.S. announce their election outcomes independently.
He said that adopting such a model would help eliminate disputes and possible manipulation of votes at a central tallying centre.
Claims of Vote Manipulation at Bomas
Omtatah also pointed to allegations of vote manipulation at Bomas, referring to recent remarks by media owner S.K. Macharia on Saturday, March 15. Macharia had claimed to have witnessed electoral fraud at Bomas, reinforcing the need to reform Kenya’s tallying system.
Omtatah insisted that the role of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman is to declare results, not to tally them at Bomas.
He cited Article 138(10) of the Kenyan Constitution, which outlines the responsibilities of the IEBC chair. He also referenced Article 86(2)(b) & (c), which states that tallying should be done at the lower levels before the final declaration of results.
“We do not make any findings at Bomas; we simply formalise them. The IEBC chairman is only supposed to announce the results. Nowhere in the law does it state that results from polling stations should be taken to Bomas for tallying,” he explained.
The Role of Constituencies in Election Tallying
The senator reiterated that election results should be processed at the grassroots level. At each polling station, a tallying officer should compile the votes and submit the results to the constituency’s returning officer. That officer would then announce the official results for the constituency.
For county-level positions, the results should be declared at the county level. As for the presidential election, results from all 290 constituencies should be compiled to determine whether a candidate has met the constitutional requirement of securing more than 50% of the total votes and winning in at least 24 counties.
If a candidate meets these conditions, they are declared the winner. Otherwise, a runoff election should be conducted.
“Once it is confirmed that a candidate has received over 50% of the votes and has won in at least 24 counties, that should be enough to determine the winner,” Omtatah stated.
He concluded by stressing that Kenya must embrace a transparent and efficient system to ensure election integrity.
Doing away with Bomas as the national tallying centre, he believes, would be a significant step in achieving credible elections free from manipulation.
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