NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug, 22 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati said that the poll commission is expected to write a letter to the Ministry of Education requesting them to avail schools that will host the polls in the affected areas where the exercise was postponed.
During a meeting with affected candidates at the BOMAS of Kenya, Chebukati said that the move was critical in order to ensure Kenyans exercised their democratic rights.
“The commission will also be reaching out to the ministry of education to avail the school in those area for voting on that particular day,” he said.
IEBC Monday morning said that elections for various elective positions that had been postponed due to errors on the ballot papers will now be conducted on Monday, August, 29,2022.
These include the hotly contested Mombasa Gubernatorial seat where Orange Democratic Movement’s (ODM) candidate Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir will be battling it out with United Democratic Alliance’s (UDA) candidate Hassan Sarai Omar.
Also, In Kakamega ODM’s gubernatorial candidate Fernandes Barasa will be contesting the county’s top seat against ANC’s Cleophas Malala.
Other affected areas where polls were not conducted include MP races in Kacheliba Constituency Pokot South Constituency, Kitui Rural Constituency, and Rongai Constituency.
Other areas include Member of County Assembly Ward in Nyaki West in North Imenti Constituency and Kwa Njenga in Embakasi South Constituency
IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati said that the commission is ready to conduct elections in the affected areas.
“Today we met candidates for the various elective areas where we postponed election, these elections were supposed to be held on August 9, 2022. We have had a good meeting with the candidates and together with the team from IEBC and we have agreed that we shall hold the postponed election from August 29, 2022,” he said.
Poll officials in the affected areas have already prepared the ballot materials, while also being in the process of preparing the KIEMS kits.
“And the Returning Officers have also attended the meeting and will prepare the staff who will participate in those elections. We have also allowed the candidates to do campaigns for the next four days and stop 48 hours before the election date,”
Schools nationwide resumed the second term amid an extended hiatus on Thursday 18 August 2022.
An initial directive from the ministry of education said that schools would be reopened on August 11, 2022.
According to the academic calendar, this school term has 10 weeks.
Second term is expected to end on September 16, 2022.
The academic calendar could possibly be affected even further depending on the outcome of this year’s elections.
Original Academic Calendar
This year’s academic year was expected to be completed in at least 30 weeks compared to the 2021 calendar where learners were in school for a period of at least 30 weeks.
Ministry of education officials had advised teachers to devise a flexible schedule that will see them cover the syllabus in time.
According to a circular from the ministry of education earlier this year, the first term was set to stretch from April 25 and ends on July 1, upon which Learners would then proceed on a half-term break for three days from May 26 to 29,2022.
From July 2 to 10 learners will break for a week-long holiday and resume studies for second term on July 11.
A mid-term break was set to be from August 11 to 14 as the second holiday for learners was scheduled to be from September 17 to 25,2022.
The third and final term in the academic calendar would then begin on September 26 and end on November 25.
According to KNEC, candidates sitting their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, will do so from November 28 to December 1, 2022.
Candidates sitting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam will do so from December 1 to 23,2022.
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