By November 8, only 8.6 million out of the 18 million eligible voters had registered/CFM-File
In a press statement, IEBC Communications and Corporate Affairs Manager Tabitha Mutemi said the target still stands at 18 million and at no point was it amended.
“Our attention is drawn by reports in sections of the media claiming that the IEBC has revised its target of registering 18m to 12m. We wish to clarify that the commission still aims to register 18 million Kenyans as voters for the next General Elections,” she asserted.
The Sunday Nation quoted IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan saying the commission had brought down its target to 12 million voters due to low turnout.
“While in Ghana, the IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan merely expressed his concern in realising this target based on the registration turnout thus far. Similar sentiments have been echoed by media and a cross-section of leaders in the country who have passionately called upon Kenyans to come out in big numbers and register as voters,” she said.
On Monday, the IEBC released discouraging statistics with some areas recording less than 40 percent of voter registration.
Despite calls for eligible Kenyans to register themselves in the 25,000 voter registration centres, the number of those enlisting themselves has been low.
By Saturday December 8, only 8.6 million out of the 18 million eligible voters had registered.
In the latest statistics, Lamu County had the highest voter registration at 72 per cent followed by Kiambu which has 68 percent of the total eligible voters registered.
Nairobi had registered 990, 127 voters out of the 1,463, 105 eligible voters.
Other counties with registration of about 60 percent included Kiambu, Muranga, Nyeri, Kisumu, Kirinyaga, Kajiado, Nyandarua and Siaya.
The lowest voter registration had been recorded in Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, West Pokot, Garissa and Trans Nzoia counties.
IEBC has maintained that it will not extend the December 18 deadline.
About The Author
