NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 2 – The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) has warned against transfer of voters in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise.
IIEC Commissioner Winnie Guchu told Capital News that IIEC will exclude affected people from the register hence denying them a chance to vote.
“There are reports of people being moved from their constituencies and being taken to other constituencies. I want to make this very clear to them, we are going to open those registers for inspection, if people are identified not to belong to that constituency, we will remove them from the register,” she warned.
She urged people to register in places where they live since the leaders they will vote for will be serving them and not in other constituencies.
Ms Guchu said it was unfortunate that such culprits do not realise the importance of electing leaders to serve them.
She asked people to register in centres closest to them and where they live to have a stake and hold their leaders accountable by judging their performance.
“Voting and electing is about how you get services, if you don’t vote in the area you come from, you disfranchise yourself from getting services you are actually supposed to get,” she advised.
She regretted that transfer of voters was one of the malpractices the new register was supposed to check and despite that people were still practicing the vice.
Though she was pleased with a record of three million Kenyans having registered themselves, she said it was too far way from the target.
She appealed to people to show up at the registration offices on time and not to wait for the last minute rush.
The Commissioner announced that IIEC was rolling out programmes to bring the registration closer to the people and conveniently.
“We are not just sitting on our desks waiting for people to come, we are targeting to register people at churches, we are also going to main bus stops and going to the market on market days,” she asserted.
She said she was confident that Kenyans were yearning for a change and were determined to move on with life despite the happenings of the 2008 post election violence.
She further encouraged all Kenyans to register and participate in elections to have on opinion in their leadership as well as play their patriotic responsibility.
Ms Guchu reminded them that by refusing to vote would not change anything but by voting, somehow a change would be achieved.
She also clarified that only original National Identity Cards and Passports were allowed for participation in the exercise.
She said, photocopies and affidavits would not be accepted.
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