NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 19 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is urging Kenyans to avoid last minute rush in an attempt to beat the on-going nationwide enhanced voter registration exercise which is slated to lapse on November 2.
Speaking on the Capital in The Morning Show with Fareed Khimani and Davina Leonard, IEBC Director Voter Registration and Electoral Operations Rasi Masudi said the Commission is concerned that exercise which entered its second week on October 18 had gotten off to an uncharacteristically slow start with less than a year to the 2022 General Election.
“This is the lowest moment we have seen voter apathy, in 2016, we did voter registration and within those 30 days we had five million new voters. Now we are less than a year to the polls and you can see the low numbers we are registering. We are in the second week now and we are seeing counties which have not managed to do ten percent of their targets,” Masudi noted.
He ruled out an extension of the registration period citing insufficient funding.
“I can bet on this, that in the last five days IEBC will be abused and accused of failing to provide sufficient kits. But we have given this time despite the budget not being sufficient to last the 30 days. But whatever we have done now still Kenyans are not turning up and then in the last 5-10 days there will be a lot of people coming, but the kits also have a capacity to register per day,” Masudi stated.
He advised the youthful population to turn-up and register for the chance to transform the future of their country.
“I would really encourage the youth to participate in this election. I know some of them claim that leaders have let them down, but you don’t deal with the person who has let you down by running back to your houses or cocoons,” he said.
Only 491,968 new voters have enlisted in the last two weeks representing a paltry 15.5 per cent.
IEBC Director Voter Registration and Electoral Operations Rasi Masudi said the Commission is concerned that exercise which entered its second week on October 18 had gotten off to an uncharacteristically slow start with less than a year to the 2022 General Election/FILE
Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyeri and Nyandarua counties recorded less than 10 per cent of their target for the second week of the month-long mass voter registration, suggesting extreme apathy in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backyard.
Kiambu registered 15,044 out of the 176,684 targeted in first 14 days lapsing on October 16 while Murang’a enlisted 7,985 out of 95,773 targeted. Nyeri recorded 5,380 out of 74,498 while Nyandarua enrolled 4,985 out of projected 54,826 new voters.
Counties from the arid and semi-arid areas such as Turkana county achieved 35 per cent of its target by enlisting 10,835 out of its 31,250 target in the second week followed by Samburu with 4,248 out of 13,530. West Pokot registered 8,800 out of its target of 29,337 representing 30 per cent.
Garissa recorded 26 per cent of its target after 6,867 registered while Mandera recorded 28 per cent achievement by having enlisted 7,913 out of 28,536 targeted.
The Commission announced plans to deploy registration kits to universities and colleges in an attempt to reach out to a majority of youths who would be first time voters in the 2022 General Election.
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