Poor voter listing due to ‘fear of poll chaos’

An lobby group has claimed that some people viewed as ‘outsiders’ in Rift Valley were not registering as voters fearing a repeat of the 2007/8 post-election violence.

The report by Institute for Education in Democracy (IED) says the developments were likely to disenfranchise voters in the region.

IED executive officer Peter Alingo said some people, especially in the tea estates, preferred travelling back to their rural areas to register there.

“Some of the people have told our observers they won’t vote in the area especially those working in tea estates and we are seeing a situation where Rift Valley and Central are being zoned ethnically,” Mr Alingo said when he released the report at their Nairobi offices on Sunday.

He said people were also fearing to register in some areas like Kwale and Msambweni in Coast due to alleged Mombasa Republican Council threats while those in Samburu, Turkana, Garissa and Tana River feared military operation.

Mr Alingo said IED had deployed 214 observers in 196 constituencies to sample registration in 3,210 centres.

He claimed that in some stations, there was no clear communication from Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that one can register in an urban station and vote in his/her rural home.

“IEBC should enlighten Kenyans on the modalities of registration and how it relates where one prefers to vote,” he said.

He warned that the IEBC might not reach its target 18 million voters target because some centres remained idle the whole day.