Declare public holiday to allow voter registration, MPs urge Kibaki

MPs allied to the Jubilee Coalition –The National Alliance, United Republican Party and United Democratic Front—have asked President Kibaki to declare a public holiday to allow Kenyans register as voters.

Adan Duale (Dujis), Charles Keter (Belgut), Benjamin Washiali (Mumias), Rachel Shebesh (nominated), Manyala Keya (Lurambi) and Abdikadir Mohammed (Mandera Central) said on Tuesday such a day should be set aside before the expiry of the 30-day deadline that the electoral commission has set aside for voter registration.

“That day Kenyans will not go to work and all of them will be expected to flock to the registration centres and register as voters. They must register,” said Mr Duale during a news conference in Parliament buildings.

The MPs blamed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for what they said was a shortage of the biometric voter-registration kits in their constituencies. The IEBC, the MPs said, had gazetted 25,000 registration centres but only provided 15,000 kits.

“IEBC wants to tell the world that the problem is voter apathy, yet this is their problem. It is all about logistics. In my constituency, from one centre to another the distance is about 50 kilometres. Yet the IEBC has provided just one BVR kit,” said Mr Duale.

Extend deadline

He said the IEBC will have no option but to extend the deadline, if all Kenyans were to register.

“In the past elections, voters have had more than one time to register. The IEBC cannot tell us that it will be 30 days and no more. They must extend the deadline. When they come to Parliament, they’re always shifting goalposts, they can’t even follow their own timelines,” said Mr Duale.

Though the MPs appear to be quite late in their appeal to the public for voters to be registered --there are just seven days left to the expiry of the deadline-- they said that they have been rallying people in the villages, and in the constituencies, to register, and that this time round, they had opted to do it on a national platform.

“We’re here speaking on behalf of the Jubilee Coalition. When you see us, you see Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, (his counterpart) Musalia Mudavadi, and (Eldoret North MP) William Ruto,” said Mr Duale, asserting that his utterances were sanctioned by the three at the helm of TNA, UDF and URP respectively.

Mr Keter urged the IEBC to consider the population of constituencies even as it distributed the BVR kits. The issue of how university students, who are still in session will register as voters, is also one of the things that the MPs want the IEBC to address.

In the House, MPs managed to get the assistant minister of Justice, William Cheptumo, to summon the IEBC to come and address the lawmakers at Parliament buildings at a Speaker’s kamukunji (an informal meeting).

They scheduled the meeting for Thursday subject to an approval from the Speaker’s office.