Voter listing a do-or-die job for Cord and Jubilee

Jubilee and Cord coalitions are mounting all-out drives to register voters with fervid appeals to their supporters to register.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s frustration over low voter registration is palpable when he spoke about it in the past few days.

On the other hand, President Kenyatta has already met and directed politicians from the central Kenya counties of Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Nyandarua and Nyeri to spare no effort to ensure youths in their areas obtain the vote.

The Jubilee Party has resolved to register one million new voters in central Kenya alone.

Mr Odinga’s frustration was evident in his speech late Friday evening at Homa Bay’s Sori market, and earlier at a conference of investors in county.

This is because the Cord coalition strongly pegs its chances of removing the Uhuru-Ruto team from power in the polls next year by registering voters.

On Friday, Mr Odinga declared that he will “personally” monitor the registration of voters in his strongholds, especially in Nyanza and western Kenya.

“What is the need for me run for the presidency if you have no votes? You people have been embarrassing me,” said an emotional Odinga at Sori.

He had gone there to monitor the registration.

For Jubilee, there is rising concern that the return of cheap liquor could prevent hundreds of young people from the region from the listing. 

Jubilee politicians have organised a series of meetings to rally for the listing.

Gichugu MP Njogu Barua has warned over a lethargic response to voter registration in Jubilee zones.

“We in Jubilee cannot afford to sit on our laurels with the tricky fifty plus one requirement, any new vote will be vital to defend power. Jubilee must aspire to win the next polls with a wider margin,” he said.

“The stakes were lower in 2013, which was about taking power. Now, it is defending power and it is going to be more bruising, more expensive and more competitive.”

TYRANNY OF NUMBERS
Recent data from the electoral commission indicates that opposition strongholds have the highest number of potential voters compared to Jubilee areas.

In Nyanza, a total 616,697 people are eligible to register this year, followed by 589,306 in western Kenya.

Jubilee party’s central Kenya turf has 538,433, Coast (512,285) while Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard holds 448,803 eligible voter.

A total of 407,134 individuals are ready for registration in Ukambani.

The Cord coalition is particularly concerned about a sustained onslaught by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto on its strongholds, mainly Nyanza, Western and Coast where they two leaders have been asking opposition supporters to decamp.

And if what Mr Ruto revealed during a charged meeting with Kalenjin elders in Kericho on Wednesday is anything to go by, then opposition team has more reason to worry.  

Speaking in Kalenjin, Mr Ruto said his intention was to split Mr Odinga’s support in Nyanza, Coast and Western by half.

His main target will be the larger Gusii, Kuria, the Luhya nation and Coast.

“To run this country, we need more support from other communities,” he said while imploring on Kalenjins to stick with him as he ventured out for more allies.

“Even Mr Odinga is concerned because he knows I want to split the Nyanza vote by eating into Kisii and Kuria as well Coast and Western.”

The Deputy President in January hosted delegations from Kisii and Western at his Sugoi home during which he sought their backing with a promise of jobs and maendeleo (development).  

Back in Nyanza, Mr Odinga leader threatened not to run for the presidency in the next election unless he is satisfied that the Cord coalition has registered sufficient voters to counter Jubilee’s “tyranny of numbers”. 

STRATEGY
The Opposition chief, who made several stopovers, directed youths to use every available forum — including churches and funeral — to enlist as voters.

A source in the Cord coalition said that they are looking at bagging at least four million of new voters.

Nairobi is being handled specially because it’s the capital. They want at least half of the newly registered voters in Nairobi, said the source.

And in Kisumu on Monday, Mr Odinga, where he was accompanied by Cord principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula after chairing a night-long strategy meeting, addressed a press conference in Dholuo appealing to supporters in his Nyanza stronghold to seize the registration opportunity.

There appears to be consensus that low voter registration and apathy in its strongholds is the opposition’s major undoing, a situation the Cord group is determined to address.

A dismayed Mr Odinga turned a tellingly cold gaze at his supporters when an election commission official in Kisumu informed them that they had not registered a single voter that morning.

According to Mr Musyoka, the Cord coalition’s strategy is to register four million more voters in its strongholds, especially the larger Nyanza, Western, Nairobi, Ukambani,  a lower Eastern and Coast.

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi has also launched an aggressive voter listing campaign in western Kenya.

Outside Nyanza, Western and Ukambani, Cord aims to retain new supporters in Turkana, Wajir, Garissa, Kisii, Nyamira, Kajiado, Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa, Taita Tavetta, Nairobi and Nakuru counties.

The four-million voter target was the agenda of the Sunday night Cord governors’ summit at Kisumu’s Acacia hotel, according to insiders.

According to sources at the talks, the 24 Cord governors were asked to dedicate Sh10 million each for voter registration.

The primary target of the governors would be colleges and secondary schools where they were advised to team up with teachers’ unions for registration of eligible students.

STIFF COMPETITION
A strong argument supported with data was made at the meeting revealing that nearly 800,000 voters in Cord strongholds, mainly Western, Nyanza, did not vote in the 2013 election in which the coalition was floored with as many votes.

Second, it was revealed that another 1.3 million eligible voters in Cord areas did not register.

The persuasion in the Kisumu Cord meeting was that the coalition has sufficient numbers to beat Jubilee team.

The challenge is to seduce supporters to register and, more significantly, to get them to vote.

“We slept through the revolution as Jubilee registered its supporter in the last election,” said a Cord senator familiar with the strategy. “Our express intention is to ensure we are not caught off-guard this time round.” 

The Cord strategy has tied voter registration to the re-election of its governors.

It is believed that unlike in the past elections, the post of governorship, more than any other, will attract unprecedented competition and, therefore, a high voter turnout.

Far too many county officials including executives and administrators’ jobs are depended on the fate of governors and are expected to wage an aggressive re-election campaign.