One Kenya Alliance (OKA) have urged Kenyans to register as voters during the ongoing national voter registration exercise.
This comes after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) decried of low turnout in its Enhanced Voter Registration exercise with only 202,518 new voters registering out of the weekly national target of 1,500,000 representing 13.5 per cent of the target.
Speaking in Makueni County, OKA principals Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) and Cyrus Jirongo of UDP said the country can only get correct leadership if the public participate in the electioneering process.
“You must register as a voter so that you be ready to unite with other Kenyans in 2022,” Wetangula said.
The commission targets to register six million new voters.
However, insecurity, lack of Identity Cards and the culture of last-minute rush has attributed the low numbers of voters turn out.
Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Wajir, West Pokot, Mandera, Nandi, Baringo, Narok, Turkana and Tana River Counties have recorded the highest percentage of targets.
Meanwhile, Nairobi, Mombasa, Muranga, Embu, Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Kitui, Nyeri and Nyandarua Counties recorded the lowest percentage of targets.
On voters transfers, a total of 5,206 requests were serviced by the commission.
The Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) drive is to run for a period of 30 days until 2nd November 2021 in all the 1,450 County Assembly Wards across the Country.
The commission deployed Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system with a total of 4,350 BVR kits distributed to register voters within County Assembly Wards.
