Raila in strategic meeting with Nyanza leaders

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga will on Sunday meet leaders from Nyanza over the ongoing voter registration.

The talks at Odino-Ken-Gen in Nyakach will bring together governors, senators, MPs and county assembly leader.

This follows alarm over poor turnout over possible voters from the region compared to Jubilee strongholds, according to figures released by the polls agency.

The Opposition leader has been traversing the country to mobilise supporters to register as voters and rally behind the opposition's National Super Alliance (Nasa) to remove Jubilee from power.

Speaking to the Nation on Saturday, ODM chairman John Mbadi said the Sunday morning meeting was borne out of concerns of poor voter registration in Opposition strongholds.

"It will be an ODM party affair. The agenda is about the ongoing voter registration," Mr Mbadi said. “We have decided to meet and organize and explore many ways we can use to rally people to register as voters within the limited time remaining.”

The ongoing mass registration ends mid next month.

Politicians from the region have been put on the spot for failing to mobilise voters in the region to hit the 854,179 target.

Out of the targeted 854,179 potential voters with IDs but are not registered in Nyanza, only 95, 945 have been listed so far.

The leaders, both elected and those aspiring for various seats in the August polls, have been accused of not marshalling resources to ensure that locals obtain national Identification cards and register as voters to boost Mr Odinga’s chances for clinching the presidency.

"The PM (Mr Odinga) is concerned about the slow pace of voter registration in Nyanza and wants to meet the leaders to find an amicable solution to the matter," the source close to Mr Odinga.

The meeting is also expected to discuss the conduct of Kisumu MCAs who had gone on a bonding mission in Arusha, at a time other elected leaders were busy mobilising voter registration.

Kisumu Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga urged all leaders to complement Mr Odinga’s efforts in rallying Nyanza residents to register as voters.

Central Nyanza IEBC coordinator George Oyugi and Nyanza Regional coordinator Wilson Njega on Thursday blamed the low voter registration, to failure by politicians to rally their constituents.

Mr Oyugi called on politicians to help in mobilization of voters for them to meet their target by February 14.

“We have inadequate funding for the exercise and therefore county governments and leaders from the region should come out strongly and pool resources and ensure they mobilize residents to come out and vote,” said Mr Oyugi who is in charge of Kisumu, Homa Bay and Siaya counties.

Mr Njega has directed chiefs to implement President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive for them to trace the owners of uncollected IDs and deliver the documents to them.

“I had already instructed the chiefs from last year to locate the owners of the uncollected IDs even before the President issued the directive. What we have done in Nyanza is enhancing the same," said Mr Njega.