NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 29-The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party on Wednesday has extended the ongoing free membership registration drive which was set to lapse on Thursday September 30.
The party said the exercise will now go on until the end of the year.
The party kicked off the free registration exercise on June 30, 2021 as part of measures to boost its membership.
The party’s Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said the extension is to allow the enlisting of members who are yet to do so, saying they do not want to leave any of their supporters out due to lack of the Sh100 registration fee.
“Given the success we have witnessed and the desire from the public to join the party in the last three months, we resolved to extend the free membership registration for ordinary members that was expected to expire the 30th of September to the 31st of December 2021,” said Sifuna.
Sifuna called upon their supporters to take advantage of the upcoming mass voter registration by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), and register as voters in readiness to the August 2022 elections.
He at the same time called upon the commission to deploy sufficient resources both human and material in order for the exercise to be successful, saying that more than half of the 7 million targeted new voters are in the party’s traditional strongholds of Nyanza, Western, Coast and Nairobi.
“We urge all party leaders at the grassroots and all members elected and nominated on the party ticket to now retreat to their respective areas to coordinate and support voter registration and mobilize people to collect their Identity Cards for purposes of voter registration,” he stated.
He further warned some members of the party purporting to open offices in the grassroots without reference or consultations with the national office, will face disciplinary action in an apparent reference to businessman Jimi Wanjigi who has declared interest in the presidency.
Jimi has been traversing the country setting the stage to compete with the party leader Raila Odinga in the upcoming nominations.