Voters to get new electors cards

• Document now has security features to prevent fraud, say election officials

Voters in the Bomachoge and Shinyalu by-elections will use new electors cards.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya said the new IIEC cards have security features to prevent fraud.

Led by commissioner Hamara Ibrahim, the team said that IIEC is mandated to reform the electoral process and restore the confidence of Kenyans.

The voter registration exercise was launched on Monday and will end on July 28. There are two registration clerks in each of the 130 centre out of which 19 have double streams with three clerks to manage the large number of voters.

Master register

The clerks will use the master register of 2007 to give out cards. All old cards are supposed to be surrendered to IIEC.

The commissioners said that official campaigns will take place between August 5 and 25, and warned aspirants against holding political campaigns until that time.

They said the commissioners will meet with all political parties on July 7, to agree on how to conduct themselves during the campaign period.

To avoid voter importation, Commissioner Yusuf Nzibo said electors will not be allowed to transfer from one polling centre to another.

The commissioners said they had requested the registrar of persons to speed up the giving of IDs to enable more people to vote.

The IIEC will next week launch a voter education campaign. Ms Nzibo said the commission will use women, youth and lobby groups in the exercise.

They appealed to aspirants to campaign peacefully adding that politicians must adhere to the code of conduct.

At the same time, Narc-K party nominations were held on Tuesday to pick its flag bearer for the Bomachoge by-election.

Mr James Ombasa Omweno emerged the winner against Mr Ferdinand Obure by gunning 106 votes against his only contender who got 16 votes.
Three candidates were battling for the ticket. Mr Isaac Oseko Mbaka withdrew his candidature at the eleventh hour.

Mr Obure protested over voter bribery and alleged that delegates were hand-picked by chiefs and assistant chiefs. He said government officers should not be involved in politics.

“This exercise does not reflect the true picture of Narc-K as a party and I can’t accept defeat, the exercise has been marred by bribery” Mr Obure said.

The returning officer, Mr Musa Nyandusi Nyakaramba, however dismissed the claims of bribery saying that delegates were picked last year during party grassroots elections.