Thousands line up to register as IEBC rules out extension

Kenyans on Monday thronged voter registration centres across the country ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

However, latest statistics indicated that the initial Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission target of 18 million voters was unlikely to be met.

Some 12.7 million voters had registered by Monday.

IEBC chairman Issack Hassan blamed politicians for not sensitising people to register.

Instead of only complaining about poor turnout, he said, the politicians should have concentrated on mobilising people to register. He maintained that there will be no extension of the registration.

“We will go with the already registered voters as we have no plan B in regard to voter registration,” he said.

Mr Hassan, who was speaking in Eldoret, said only 958,003 out of 1.9 million estimated voters had registered in the North Rift region.

“As a commission we  are  worried about voter registration in  this  region as well as in Coast and North Eastern,” he said.

In Trans-Mara, one person was killed and voter registration disrupted when suspected cattle-rustlers attacked Ngendalel village on Monday.

The IEBC clerks had to scamper for safety as the bandits terrorised the village. The attackers escaped with 24 animals.

In Nyeri, the number of those streaming into various registration centres increased tremendously.

By mid-morning, several centres had registered more than 60 people, almost hitting their day’s targets.

At Nyeri Town Health centre, the clerks were busy as people lined up all morning.

“Today the numbers have increased, people are coming in large numbers and we have already surpassed our day’s target and we are well prepared to register all of them,” said one of the clerks at the centre.

In other areas, registration centres were also moved to market places in various trading centres.

In Kirinyaga, the director of survey, Mr Ephantus Murage, commended the people of Gichugu for responding positively to appeals for them to register.

In Mumias, a registration clerk was injured after being attacked by a man.

The attacker went to the Eshikusa centre and set on the clerk, Mr Boniface Washimboka, with kicks and blows.

Western provincial police boss Alfred Ombaba said police were investigating the incident and had launched a manhunt for the assailant.

The Kakamega Regional Election Coordinator George Oyugi said the clerk was treated and discharged.

In Baringo, Cotu secretary-general Francis Atwoli asked employers to give workers time off to register. The Cotu boss also urged the electoral commission to increase registration hours to allow more Kenyans to register themselves and participate in the March 4 elections.

In Kisumu, scores of residents queued to register.

In Homa Bay county, chiefs moved from house to house locating people whose IDs were lying in their offices.

Assistant chief Chris Ochieng Odero said the IDs had not been picked for months.

“We have been distributing the IDs from door-to-door,’’ Mr Odero said.

In Mombasa, registration at most centres was still low a day before the deadline. A spot check at centres at Mtwapa, Kisauni, Nyali, Patel Samaj and Kaderboy revealed no queues.

In West Pokot, pastoralists who had migrated to Uganda in search of pasture returned to register. More than 3,000 herders who had migrated have been registered in Pokot North district in the last one week.

In Nairobi, most centres registered a dismal number of voters.

By Ouma Wanzala, James Ngunjiri, Barnabas Bii, Bozo Jenje, Lilian Ochieng, Tom Otieno, Benson Amadala, Leonard Mutinda, Noah Chepleon