Could the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be intentionally sabotaging voter registration, with the agency’s requirement of a number of hard copy documents, especially from Kenyans changing their voting stations?
There are concerns the commission refuses to cut through the red tape, despite calls for the entire process of an election – from registration, voting to announcing results to be fully digitized.
Speaking at the IEBC offices in Maralal town Thursday, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said the ongoing Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) will end on 6th February.
Read: Chebukati needs to leave IEBC and join UDA, Nyeri Town MP
However, the continuous voter registration exercise in the constituency offices will still continue until a gazette notice is issued to stop the registration process later this month.
“IEBC is following the elections operation plan and there are timelines in voter registration to allow time to audit and verification of the register and that is why we cannot extend the registration exercise,” he said.
Concerns of low voter registration have been raised in various parts of the country, and now it emerges, demands of letters from the chief and physical photocopies of ID as opposed to verifiable ID numbers have discouraged many young Kenyans to enlist as new voters.
