IEBC directed to extend voter registration deadline

High Court Judge Enoch Mwita Chacha has directed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to extend the mass voter registration by two days.

This directive came after activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court under a certificate of urgency saying that the deadline slated for today is contrary to section 5(1)(a) of the elections ACT 2011 therefore null and void.

In the petition filed, Omtatah also wants the court to compel the electoral body to register voters using birth certificates and expired passports.

Omtatah also wants the court to declare that a single database of citizens should be used to transact all affairs affecting citizens and that the separate registrations for exams ID, KRA PIN, and Passports are unreasonable and wastage of public funds.

He argues that without full disclosure it is impossible to tell whether the IEBC estimated targets for registering voters in various parts of the country is independent of executive mischief to suppress voters in some areas and whether or not it used the official data of the adult population from the Directorate of Immigration and Registration of Persons based on the 2009 census.

“By wasting resources running multiple databases of citizens, the respondents are in violation of Article 201 (D) that public money shall be used in a prudent and responsible way,” Omtatah argues.

He further states that IEBC must use accurate data provided by the directorate of Immigration and Registration of persons on the estimated number of adults living in each county or constituency.

Omtatah argues that IEBC needs to break out of the executives chokehold by letting the public know how widespread the discriminative issuance of IDs is and how it disenfranchises the unsuspecting citizens.

The matter will be mentioned on the 16th of this month.