Nairobi — The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) encouraged vote rigging in parts of Eastern Province by unfairly appointing and posting election officials in certain regions, the Kriegler Commission heard on Saturday.

Some residents of Machakos Town told the commission that all the returning officers in 17 constituencies came from one region.

Pressed by the commissioners to name the region the officials were drawn from, one of the speakers, Mr Titus Kaloki claimed they were all from "mount Kenya region".

"In fact 60 per cent of the returning officers were drawn from Meru region and they were arrogant and appeared to have had a fixed mind on which way the electoral process was suppose to go," he said.

Mr Kaloki also said results in most polling stations were released by the ECK without the form 16 A.

Justice Kriegler chaired the Machakos session which was characterised by a poor turn-out.

Only about 50 people attended the session.

Dr Faith Muli, a former Kenyatta University lecturer, said election irregularities started right from the party nominations.

"The process was flawed and when Kenyans went to the polls they did so in a charged atmosphere," she said.

Dr Muli suggested that in future the presidential, and civic and parliamentary elections should be done on separate days.

She said Form 16A is not foolproof as there is no way of verifying signatures.

Mr Franklin Makola, an ODM aspirant in Kathiani constituency, said the ECK officials appeared to have set their mind on which way the results were supposed to go while Dr Susan Musyoka, a Machakos Town parliamentary loser, blamed FM radio stations for helping fuel animosity before and during voting.