Only 4 register as voters at populous Ruiru on day one of rigorous exercise
By Mathew Ndungu, October 4, 2021
Low voter registration was posted in various parts of Kiambu County as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) kicked off a 30-day countrywide voter registration exercise ahead of 2022 polls.
In the populous Ruiru Constituency which enjoys a population of 490,120, only four voters were registered on day one of the exercise.
While IEBC targets to register 400 voters every day in its 24 registration centres and a total of 36,000 new voters by the end of the exercise, new voters gave the exercise a wide berth.
Residents who spoke to journalists said that the government should exercise a rigorous and intensive sensitization exercise to woo the unregistered persons into the voting system.
In Thika and Juja, voter registration clerks spent the better part of their first day at work idling as only a handful of new voters showed up for the crucial exercise that will ultimately determine the next country’s leadership.
While the number of those registered on day one was not clear by the time of publishing this article, most of the clerks who spoke on conditions of anonymity said unregistered Kenyans are yet to get information about the exercise.
“Most of the people who made their way to this centre are registered voters who were confirming their registration details. Generally, I can say that Kenyans are yet to embrace the exercise,” one of the clerks said.
In the constituency, a woman aged over 50 years registered for her first time pointing to a possibility that many Kenyans, even those of age, are unregistered voters.
Local leaders from the area led by Ngatha Wambiri rooted for a serious media campaign on the need for all unregistered persons to be enlisted saying that voting was the surest way of ensuring good governance through election of credible leaders.
“Voting is the only way of ensuring that the leader you elect meets your match. If you don’t get registered, then you will be unable to determine your future,” Wambiri said.
The situation in the constituency which targeted 20,000 new voters was similar to Thika, Gatundu North and South where new voters turned up for the crucial exercise.
Speaking to the media in Nakuru county where the exercise was launched, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati urged Kenyans to turn up in large numbers to get registered as the commission is targeting to register over 6 million new voters.