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Mudavadi pushes for more cash for IEBC voter registration

Speaking at the St Mary’s Catholic Church in Kajiado, Mudavadi stated that more funding should be given to the electoral body so that it may conduct the elections effectively/FILE

Speaking at the St Mary’s Catholic Church in Kajiado, Mudavadi stated that more funding should be given to the electoral body so that it may conduct the elections effectively/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 23 – The Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi says the Sh500 million the government has set aside for the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for voter registration is inadequate.

Speaking at the St Mary’s Catholic Church in Kajiado, Mudavadi stated that more funding should be given to the electoral body so that it may conduct the elections effectively.

He indicated that a lack of funding might also compromise the effectiveness of the voting process.

“The government is in sabotage plot of the election process by denying IEBC money. They’re undermining Kenyan’s right to vote. Sh500 million which is not even available to IEBC is an insult. The last thing the government can ever do is deny its citizens the right to vote,” he said.

In the last national voter registration drive in 2012, 5.6 million people registered by the National Registration Bureau were listed as voters.

More than 1.9 million Kenyans have acquired new IDs since 2013, in total contrast to those seeking voters’ cards.
The lower eastern which has 22 constituencies, is leading in the voter registry, with 11,856 while Nyanza, which has 21 constituencies, is in the second spot with 10,734 new registered voters.

The Kakamega region, with 17 constituencies, is in the third position with 8,067, while Bungoma follows with 7,741 new voters in its 16 constituencies.

The IEBC plans to start a major vote-listing drive to target half of the estimated eight million Kenyans whom the poll agency wants to register as voters.

Figures from the registry, however, show that in Nyanza and in western Kenya where politicians have mounted a sustained campaign, more residents in these areas have been enrolled.

Some 304,965 people in Nyanza have acquired ID cards over the past two years; western Kenya has 285,582; South Rift 276,825; central 222,683; Coast 215,912; Lower Eastern 190,129; North Rift 183,592; Upper Eastern 147,995, Nairobi 126,340; and North Eastern region 28.

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Although in 2012 the commission registered 14.3 million voters before the 2013 General Election, two million of them did not vote.

A report from the commission shows that zones known to be Cord strongholds had many registered voters who did not turn up on Election Day.

The Rift Valley had the highest number of registered people who did not vote at 423,660, followed by Coast which has 354,031 and Nairobi having 321,625.

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