Kits’ shortage to lock out voters, say MPs

By ALLAN KISIA

Parliament has expressed fears millions of eligible voters may be locked out of next year’s elections because of registration hitches.

MPs said inadequate Biometric Voter Registration kits and time constraints were a major setback on the ongoing voter registration exercise, which has about two weeks to go.

Legislators from North Eastern were the most concerned due to the vastness of the region and the difficult terrain. They lamented that registration clerks waste many hours moving from one place to another.

They wondered why the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had not provided the region with more kits to lessen the movements.

Justice Assistant minister William Cheptumo was put to task on time constraints and lack of adequate kits.

Nominated MP Sofia Abdi said millions of eligible voters would be locked out due to the said reasons.

Temporary Speaker Gitobu Imanyara directed Cheptumo to consult relevant departments in Government before issuing a comprehensive statement on the issues raised.

Siakago MP Lenny Kivuti said he was concerned the BVR kits in Mbeere County were too few for its population.

Joseph Gitari (Kirinyaga Central) wondered what IEBC and the Government was doing to mobilise more voters to register given that less than half of the targeted eligible voters had turned up for registration.

Abdi Nuh (Bura) claimed a lot of time is wasted when the kits develop technical problems, including expiry of passwords, which takes time to address.

Mvita’s Najib Balala wondered why IEBC was planning to register Kenyans in East African countries when the local exercise was full of setbacks.

“Locally, the exercise has been marred with a lot of challenges. Why go to East African countries when the exercise has failed here?” he asked.

Cheptumo is also expected to respond to the confusion surrounding diaspora voting after he told the House that 1,500 kits earlier set aside for the Diaspora had been redistributed locally to speed up the exercise.

The assistant minister said the only option would have been an extension of the registration period but even that is not possible because after the 30 days, two weeks is needed to compile the register and another two weeks for voters to inspect the register.