Concern over low voter turnout

With only a week to the close of voter listing, most registration centres continue to record poor turnout.

And the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has expressed concern over this state of affairs, citing apathy, lack of ID cards and discontent among voters.

The commission, which has ruled out extending the December 18 deadline, has now sought the intervention of the provincial administration and religious groups, with chiefs and their assistants being asked to mobilise residents to register to vote.

In the North Rift, the IEBC regional coordinator, Mr Solomon Mudanya, expressed dissatisfaction over the low turnout, noting that approximately 800,000 voters out of the targeted 1.9 million had been registered. (Read: Polls team misses voter listing target)

“There is apathy among residents. Our registration clerks are mostly idle, only serving 20 to 50 voters daily in most of the centres,” lamented Mr Mudanya.

Many eligible voters expressed dissatisfaction with politicians, claiming that they were only interested in coalitions for power instead of deliberating on the issues affecting them.

More than 1,500 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits have been distributed to the six counties, targeting to register 1.9 million voters.

“This target might not be achieved unless more voters turn up for registration in the remaining days,” said Mr Mudanya.
In Kisumu, registration clerks idled the day away yesterday, with few voters trickling in to register.

Mr Philip Odhiambo, a clerk at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, said that the centre has registered 4,500 voters so far.

Nyanza Central elections coordinator Rasi Masudi said the low numbers were a result of the lack of ID cards among many youthful voters who were presenting waiting cards. “We had stated clearly that waiting cards would not be used for registration,” said Mr Masudi.

In Nyeri, provincial administrators and religious groups yesterday moved in to mobilise people to register as voters.

“One of the methods of reaching out to more people is to narrow down to chiefs and their assistants,” said Mr Patrick Odame, the IEBC official in charge of Upper Central. On Sunday, registration clerks moved to church compounds to reach out to unregistered residents.

In Nyandarua, flower farm labourers were registered at their workplaces. But in Nyahururu, the queues are beginning to lengthen.

By Verah Okeyo, Barnabas Bii, Moses Odhiambo, Macharia Mwangi and James Ngunjiri