Low voter turnout characterises voter registration exercise

A low turnout continues to characterize the ongoing voter registration exercise countrywide with a section of potential voters in different counties complaining of lack of information on the schedule of the voter registration exercise within their wards.

The difficulty comes even as the two leading political coalitions continue to trade accusations with the Jubilee Alliance now accusing the CORD leadership of interfering with the exercise by pressurizing the electoral body.

A spot check in Mombasa’s Majengo Centre showed potential voters awaiting the arrival of registration clerks for hours.

The situation replicated in other counties understandably due to the mobility of the registration clerks who have a fixed schedule to move from one polling station to the other with no sufficient information to the public on their whereabouts.

This comes just a day after the CORD coalition visited the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners and demanded a review of the distribution of the BVR kits, something Jubilee is opposed to.

“We want to tell the IEBC that they cannot be intimidated by the CORD coalition,” said Aden Duale, the National Assembly Majority Leader.

Speaking in Kajiado, CORD leader Raila Odinga insisted that the BVR kits should be increased from the current 5,756 shared across the 1,450 county assembly wards.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery now wants the County Commissioners and officers under them to mobilize persons without national identity cards to apply for the documents, to enable them register as voters.

Nkaissery’s Ministry has been accused of frustrating ID card applicants by taking too long to process the crucial documents.

Even though low voter turnout has been reported in most of the wards, IEBC is yet to release the latest statistics, with the commission targeting to register 4 million new voters by the 15^th of March.