ELDORET, Kenya, Mar 10 — Voters who will not have registered with their various political parties by March 26, 2022, will not participate in the party primaries in April, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), North Rift region coordinator Hope Nandwa has said.
Only voters whose names will appear in political party registers will be able to elect their party candidate during the party primaries, added the regional coordinator.
“To vote for your favourite candidate you must be in the party register of your political party by March 26, 2022, if not forget about voting your candidate in the party primaries,” she advised.
Speaking during the establishment of the Uasin Gishu county multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration forum on election preparedness meeting held at the Home craft centre in Eldoret Wednesday, Ms. Nandwa said political parties will not use the IEBC register to do their nominations during the party primaries but that from the ORPP’s office.
“And we will not accept a person not in the party register to elect a candidate during the primaries,” she stressed.
Nandwa was responding to concerns raised during the forum by various stakeholder representatives who observed that the registration deadline was a few weeks away yet a large number of voters were not aware of the requirement.
The confusion that will arise during the party primaries when voters fail to trace their names in the register is a possible source of conflict, warned Champions of Peace representative Elly Opondo.
“We have tracked 27 counties and the results indicate political parties have not sensitized their supports on the March 26 registration deadline, this will be a major bone of contention that needs to be addressed urgently as it may be a source of violence during the elections,” warned Opondo.
He added that they had warned political parties to sensitize their voters on the March 26th requirement that is just a few days away with a large percentage of wananchi remaining ignorant.
However, the ORPP coordinator announced that they will be holding meetings in the six counties in the region with all political aspirants to sensitize those on what is required of them as per the enacted elections bill 2021.
“We will be having forums bringing together all individuals who will want to vie for any political post on what is expected of them and the need to strictly abide by the code of conduct as we near the August 9th general elections,” she added.
The forums will be conducted in Turkana, Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Baringo counties from next week.
Nandwa challenged political parties to ensure the transmission of their members’ registration data to ORPP headquarters to be captured in the register before the timeline is fast-tracked.
In his remarks, Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Stephen Kihara who chaired the consultative forum that brought together players from state and non-state actors dismissed fears that the forums were meant to manage the forthcoming elections.
“It is not true that the government is taking over the election work, the only thing that the government wants, is to ensure we have a smooth process towards the August 9th elections,” he said.
