Cord claims unfair distribution of BVR kits

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy on Saturday launched a massive voter registration sensitisation exercise aimed at marshalling numbers to beat the rival Jubilee Coalition in next year’s General Election.

Cord coalition’s campaign for its supporters to register as voters in large numbers started in Kibera Constituency where the coalition principal Raila Odinga led the quest to take advantage of the exercise which kicks off on Monday.

“We must register in large numbers so that we can beat Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto,” said Raila.

But even as they beat the voter registration drums, the leaders have alleged a plot to deny cord strongholds fair registration to the advantage of the rival jubilee coalition

“Kilifi has 674,757 people but it was given 142 registration kits while Kiambu which has only 375,119 people was given 182 kits,” noted Wetangula.

According to figures released by ODM director of elections Junet Mohammed, the IEBC has allegedly given more BVR kits to counties perceived to be Jubilee strongholds, while Cord regions that have higher populations of eligible Kenyans got fewer kits

According to Junet, Vihiga has 236,736 people are ready for registration but the county was given only 52 kits compared to Murang’a County with potential voter population of 190,548 which was given 136 kits.

Nairobi County according to Cord has a population of over 1 million people ready for registration as voters yet the IEBC has allocated the county 178 BVR kits, whereas Nakuru County which has less than half a million potential voter population got more kits, he continued.

However, the figures in Kilifi and Kiambu contradict with the IEBC chart that shows that the number of potential voters with identity cards in Kilifi is 332,948 against Kiambu with 375,119.

The IEBC further maintained that the number of BVR kits per county was determined by targeted figures in each county and not the population as cited by Cord.

“We will meet our targets in good time. We have enough kits for every county and registration centres,” said Issac Hassan, IEBC Chair.