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Anger in one Kenyan constituency

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 4 – Frustrations raged in Embakasi Constituency as voters complained of missing names from the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) voter registers.

At the Donholm Primary School, voters queued for hours only to reach their stream and find their names missing.

“From this room to the other I am looking for my name and I can’t get it. What am I doing here; I would rather go home,” one disgruntled voter told Capital News.

The centre is the largest in the constituency with over 15,000 voters with queues stretching for over a kilometre.

The script was similar at Kayole Primary School where voters expressed similar concerns.

“This is a genuine ID and voter’s card and it is clear this is my voting centre.  Why is my name missing from all the registers here,” another voter wondered.

Embakasi Constituency Returning Officer Arnold Wekesa said that he has been forced to make 23 voting streams with over 700 voters on each stream to hasten the process.

Mr Wekesa said they were using alphabetical listing but conceded it has been quite challenging for both voters and polling officials.

“We are using a relatively new register that we did not have enough time to go through,” he said.

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Mr Wekesa said due to the high voter turn out, officials might have been overwhelmed during voter registration and put down the wrong name as the surname.

“This is a large area and probably what an official thought was someone’s surname was actually his first or second name, he said adding it may have led to the confusion currently being experienced in the area.

IIEC Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan has however appealed to disgruntled voters to check their names against the master register which has now been made available at affected polling centres.

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