Pomp turns into fear as voter registration proves more difficult than imagined

Fear is descending on Jubilee and opposition chiefs as the clock ticks towards the close of the mass voter registration with low turnouts reported in most of registration centres.

Within the opposition ranks, the matter is considered serious after reports by the electoral commission indicated an increasingly dismal response.

This has thrown the National Super Alliance (Nasa) brigade into a spin and hurting their plans of creating a force to face President Uhuru Kenyatta at the ballot.

In Jubilee, the number of reported dead voters and anomalies in the registers mainly in its strongholds is a matter of concern among its bigwigs given that it could hugely reduce their numbers once the voters’ register is cleaned.

Last week’s report indicated that voters in counties in the defunct Central and Rift Valley provinces have responded to the ongoing campaigns by their leaders.

Central has managed to net 238,251 new voters against a target of 320,579 in the second week while Rift Valley has registered 348,251 new voters against a target of 564,168. The Eastern region has registered 238,568 new voters against the targeted 320,575, Nairobi has recorded 182,265 new voters against 399,248, Nyanza has 180,208 against a target of 398,617, Western has 134,246 new voters against a targeted 346,286 while North Eastern enrolled 39,671 against a target of 52,510.

TOP 10

Only Kajiado is close to hitting its target after registering 92 per cent of the anticipated numbers. Three counties in President Kenyatta’s strongholds feature in the top 10 counties. They include Kirinyaga (43 per cent), Kiambu (42 per cent) and Murang’a (40 per cent).

But in terms of most registrations, five counties in perceived Nasa regions have made to the top 10. They are Mombasa (77,970), Kilifi (54,692), Machakos (46,089), Kakamega (49,876) and Kisumu (38,739).

In the Jubilee strongholds, Kiambu has registered 106,223, Nakuru 77,970 and Murang’a 47,497.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati expressed shock that counties with great potential have been unable to meet their targets.

“We are concerned that some counties with a high potential voting population of 100,000 and above are below 20 per cent of their total targets,” Mr Chebukati said.

He named Vihiga, Nyeri, Kisii, Kericho, Kakamega, Bungoma, Siaya and Kitui as being among such counties. “We are asking stakeholders in these counties to work closely with our officers to ensure all eligible Kenyans are registered,” said Mr Chebukati.

The IEBC boss said the period for registration of voters will not be extended adding that the commission will next move on to voters register verification.

CONFRONTING GOVERNORS

Unlike in the previous voter registrations, Mr Raila Odinga has gone flat out to spearhead the exercise, at times confronting governors in his backyard who appear unbothered by the state of events in their areas.

At a meeting held at Odino resort in Kisumu last week, Mr Odinga openly showed his frustration when he read the riot act to some of the governors who he accused of doing little to register new voters.

Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga, whose county is lagging behind in registration of new voters, was particularly fingered. To demonstrate his displeasure with the state of events in Nyanza, Mr Odinga literally blocked MPs from entering a room where he was meeting governors. He later held a separate meeting with the leaders.

“We must get everybody to register. This is a high stakes election. You can only make Raila President if you are armed with a voter’s card. Let everybody go out and look for people who have not registered. We must have everybody in the roll,” Mr Odinga said.

He, however, expressed hope that despite low response in the early days the numbers would go up in the final week.

'BE OKAY'

“I still believe we are going to have everybody out. I think everything will be okay. But the message is out there, come out and register,” said Mr Odinga when the Nation asked him about the state of affairs in his backyard.

New strategies have been employed to have people get out and vote with the former PM ordering leaders and professionals in their areas to adopt various polling centres and volunteer resources to promote the exercise. In Kisumu, a businessman, Mr Richard Ogendo, adopted several polling centres including the local Huduma Centre which has become the face of voter registration in the area.

“Kisumu is doing well but we can do more. I have mobilised volunteers and we are managing. Our Huduma Centre registration centre is pulling higher numbers. We are getting people to register for IDs and helping the office of the registrar to ship the processed forms to Nairobi via Kenya Airways,” said Mr Ogendo.

And in Suba, MP John Mbadi has promised to camp there until the exercise is over.

“We are using motivation method to create attraction around the BVR centres. We have improved from week one where we were only registering 200 voters to more than 400. I urge my colleagues to come out with other methods to increase our numbers,” said the ODM chairman.

TO MOBILISE

In Kasipul, MP Oyugi Magwanga is working with leaders to mobilise new voters.

He has been moving around the constituency distributing yet-to-be-collected new ID cards.

“We are trying our best. We do hope at the end of the day we will not be living here with people who have not registered or do not have ID cards,” he said.

Former Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua, who is spearheading voter registration in Nairobi, said the IEBC may have come up with higher targets to raise more money.

“I think some of these targets are imaginary. The campaign we have launched is massive especially in Nairobi, how come everybody is below 40 per cent?” he wondered.

Mr Mbugua, who resigned from the Non-Governmental Organizations Co-ordination Board on Saturday to run for the Kamukunji parliamentary seat in the coming elections, however said that Jubilee is steady in its mobilisation.

“When we are through with this registration, it will be clear who is going to win elections this year,” he said.