Magoha Postpones Schools Re-opening Date

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has postponed the scheduled reopening of schools as vote tallying continues. The Ministry of Education has announced that schools will reopen on Monday, August 15th.

Schools were initially scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, August 11th. They were suddenly closed on August 2 following a directive from Magoha intended to allow the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct a smooth election.

Earlier this week, Magoha had announced that the August 11 date could be changed to ensure a safe political environment when learners return to institutions across the country. He spoke at a function held at Juja Farm, Kiambu County.

“Assuming everything else is constant, the children should go back to school on August 11. However, the date may change depending on the political environment. For the love of our children, if we feel that they should stay home for one or two more days, we will then pronounce ourselves at that time. The public should not be worried at all because we will be on the watch,” he stated at the time.

Polling stations across the country closed at 6pm on Tuesday, August 9. As of 0242Hrs, over 87.55% of Forms 34A had been received by IEBC and uploaded to a public portal.

The Form 34A the first form used to tabulate results of the presidential election. It is filled by the Presiding Officer after the counting of votes at the polling station.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, August 9, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati noted that they would verify the scanned and uploaded Form 34A images with the physical documents. Chebukati noted that results from a polling station could only be transmitted once.

“You cannot scan results from a different polling station. Once you scan the final results, no one can scan it again,” he noted.

The physical Form 34A is handed over to the Constituency Returning Officer, who then fills Form 34B. It is used for the collation of the presidential election results. On it is indicated: the polling station code, the name of the station, the number of registered voters, what each candidate garnered  and the number of valid votes cast.

The Constituency Returning Officer hands over the form to the chairman of the IEBC, who is the Returning Officer for the presidential election. The law requires that the Chairman receive the Form 34B from each of the Returning Officers before declaring a result.

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