NAIROBI: The first phase of the ongoing mass voter registration exercise by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has failed to reach its target despite massive voter education drives by the commission and political parties.
In spite of heightened political temperatures in the country, IEBC says it will miss its own target by 70 per cent after registering just slightly under one million people against the intended four million by close of the third week.
As a result, close to three million of the targeted voters will be left out of the process that ends on Tuesday.
According to the commission, less than 30 per cent of the potential voters targeted in the exercise had turned up to list in preparation for next year’s high stakes General Election.
“Phase one of the mass registration ends on Tuesday, and this weekend marks the penultimate stage. Only 868,073 eligible citizens had applied for registration as of March 6, 2016,” said the commission in its weekly update on the exercise.
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The commission said the reduced amount of funds allocated by the National Treasury for the exercise affected voter mobilisation and distribution of kits.
“We were given a quarter of the resources we asked for and we have delivered a quarter results,” IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba said. The commission presented a Sh2 billion budget but received Sh500 million from Treasury.
Budgetary issues aside, the exercise has been mired by controversy since its launch. Opposition MPs have faulted IEBC’s formula of distributing voter registration kits, alleging favouritism to areas perceived to be pro-government, a factor they say might have contributed to the low turnout.
Partisan politics have also contributed to the low numbers, with Jubilee and CORD trading accusations over the viability, safety and integrity of the process. In Nairobi for instance, Opposition MPs have accused Jubilee of importing voters from outside the county.
Most politicians have also attributed the voter apathy to the limited number of BVR kits and requested an extension of time.
“We should extend the period and give Kenyans another chance to register,” Dagoretti MP Dennis Waweru said.
But Chiloba said a time extension would require additional funds to cater for operational and technical functions.
Wiper Secretary General Hassan Omar said lack of kits in polling station had disenfranchised Kenyans willing to register. The Mombasa senator said the apathy could also be due to the last-minute culture of Kenyans.
Registration appears to have played second fiddle to the by-elections in Malindi and Kericho and the constant accusations and counter-accusations of the roles of politicians in emerging scandals.
“There is no voter apathy. The issue with the majority of young people is the unavailability of identity cards,” Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria said.
For Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, the low turnout is as a result of a poor awareness campaign that left the electorate with inadequate information about the exercise.
In North Rift, Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Eusilah Ng’eny said elected leaders in the area were engaging local administrators and elders to mobilise supporters.
“The turnout is still low but we hope the numbers will go up in the remaining days,” she said.
In Nairobi, Jubilee has embarked on roadshows to mobilise the coalition’s supporters to list before Tuesday’s deadline.
Chiloba, however, said that continuous voter registration (CVR) will go on at constituency level countrywide and a second phase of mass registration will run next year.
“The commission appeals to all eligible voters to come out and register during this last week of the ward-based registration campaign,” said Chiloba.
Only about 305,879 citizens were listed in week three, with the commission recording an average of 41,333 voters per day. Chiloba said the 5,756 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits spread across the country were highly underutilised as each kit was listing an average of seven voters per day against a capacity of 80 to 100.
Assuming registration desks were open for eight hours, this translates to less than one registration per hour.
Data from IEBC shows that of the 47 counties, only Kajiado surpassed the intended target by listing 16,303 voters in the last three weeks against a target of 13,569, representing 120 per cent turnout.
The second most successful county in terms of the new registrations was Marsabit, which recorded a 9,510 turnout against a target of 18,541. Siaya came third with 38,994 registrations against a 78,153 target. Narok was fourth listing 14,177 against 29,340 voters.
In terms of absolute numbers, Nairobi County leads with 75,972 new voters against a target of 405,298. Nairobi has more than one million ID holders who are yet to register as voters. Kiambu, Kisumu, Siaya and Nakuru follow after listing 43,052, 39,187, 38,994 and 38413 votes respectively.
Other counties that have topped in registering more voters are Kitui (37,232), Kakamega (36,839), Bungoma (35,238) and Homa Bay (32,796).
