The second day of voter registration in prisons has been met by low turnout of inmates, leading to fears that it may not meet the set target of 19,479 prisoners by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Langata Women Prison, the largest women’s prison facility in the country, had as per today at 2 pm registered only 63 inmates against Wednesday’s hundreds that had lined up to register.
However, the registration clerks stationed at the prison could not provide more data to the media citing that full information would be provided on February 27 which is the last of prisoners’ registration.
The IEBC is targeting to register 19,479 prisoners out of the 49, 867 in the 118 imprisonment facilities countrywide and only those with Identification cards will be registered.
The registered prisoners however could not hide their excitement of having the opportunity to vote for the very first time in history despite having only one option of voting for the presidency.
Janet Wanja, a life imprisonment inmate, welcomed the historic gesture as “a show of remembrance to prisoners” and called for fellow inmates to avoid voter apathy.
“We have always felt like we are in our own world here and this is one move that has shown that indeed prisoners are people who still matter to the society. It is for this reason that inmates should also enjoy exercising this right to vote in a president that will turn around things in prisons,” said Wanja.
Dr Concellia Ondiek, five months old inmate, on the other hand said that this is an opportunity presented to prisoners to control some of the laws that will be enacted by the government of their choice.