Ex-Mungiki members urged to register as voters

Former personal aide to President Uhuru Kenyatta has pleaded with ex-Mungiki adherents to register as voters in the ongoing mass national listing.

Mr Rigathi Gachagua said the former members of the criminal group are shying away from the exercise fearing that government agencies will use the data to trace them.

Speaking at Kiawarigi trading centre in Mathira constituency, Nyeri, after launching a voter registration campaign caravan, the politician said followers of the outlawed group are afraid that security agencies will trace them over past crimes.

He is targeting to marshal registration of 33,000 new voters in the constituency from the current 87,000 voters in three weeks.

“Former Mungiki members are more fearful because the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is using biometric machines to collect the data,” said Mr Gachagua.

He said the laxity will hinder the commission from reaching the 161,359 new voters targeted to be registered in Nyeri County.

“They are reformed people and engage in active nation building activities like farming and boda boda. The notion that they will be traced and arrested by security agencies after registering is misleading,” noted Mr Gachagua.

The younger brother to Governor Nderitu Gachagua is among five aspirants running for the local parliamentary seat.

He also urged other aspirants together with the incumbent Peter Weru to halt their election campaigns and engage in mobilising residents to register with the polls agency.

Mr Gachagua further accused Mount Kenya elected leaders of doing little to ensure President Kenyatta is re-elected for second term in office.

“Our leaders should know that they are adding no value to the President by following him into his meetings. They should be at the ground mobilising their constituents to register with IEBC,” said Mr Gachagua.

He revealed that he has deployed 2160 agents in the constituency to assist the elderly and those living with disabilities to register besides assisting them to confirm if they are still in the register.

LAST MINUTE RUSH

Elsewhere, Othaya MP Mary Wambui urged residents to avoid last minute rush to register.

The legislator is liaising with local administrators and boda boda riders to help residents who are unable to access the polling stations to get to the centres to register.

She said she would also liaise with the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) to visit hospitals and schools where there are eligible voters.

“We will ensure the president Uhuru Kenyatta gunners the central vote by hook or crook,” said Ms Wambui at her office in Othaya.

She also said the recent defection by the former TNA secretary General Onyango Oloo cannot shake Jubilee party saying his shift to ODM is a plan directed to his political ambition.