ODM wants commission to ensure youth in institutions are not locked out of registration

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wants the electoral commission to ensure youth in learning institutions who are eligible to vote are not locked out of the ongoing registration.

The party’s secretary-general Agnes Zani said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) must reach out to eligible youth in universities, colleges and high schools to register as voters.

“70 per cent of the people IEBC is targeting in this final phase of registrations are youth and most of them are in the learning institutions,” Dr Zani said on Wednesday at a press conference at ODM’s Orange House in Nairobi.

The party official, who was accompanied by ODM Youth League national chairman John ole Ketora, observed that secondary schools and tertiary institutions will be in session for the one month that the exercise will last.

The two said that without proper guidance, some students might register to vote in polling stations where their institutions are located, yet they will be away on August 8, the voting day.

“Some may not register at all since the entire registration period falls within the time these students are away from their constituencies of ordinary residence,” Mr Ketora said.

This, they said, would disenfranchise many youths yet they have a constitutional right to determine the country’s leadership.

“In view of the foregoing, we wish to ask the IEBC to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the youth who are in secondary and tertiary learning institutions are not denied their rights to register and vote,” Mr Ketora said.