Desperate voters camp outside Kisumu IEBC offices after names miss from register

Some of the youths who turned up at the IEBC regional office in Kisumu to air their grievances over missing names in the voter register. [Phillip Orwa, Standard]

More than 300 residents of Kisumu town who were still uncertain whether or not they will participate in Tuesday’s election stormed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices to demand clearance to vote.

The frustrated voters, armed with their identification cards and IEBC voters cards, pitched camp outside the IEBC county office and demanded to be addressed by the electoral agency's county coordinator John Lorionokou.

They allege they have been "intentionally" denied to vote and demand that the man in charge of elections in the county help them get clearance.

They claimed efforts to get help from Huduma Centre, where most of them registered as voters, had failed to bear any fruits despite making several trips to the centralized services provider. The IEBC office at the Huduma Centre was closed as the officials were away dispatching materials to polling stations.

Their growing numbers outside the IEBC office soon attracted police but the disgruntled voters did not budge.

"I have been making trips both to the polling station and to Huduma Centre but my name remains missing from the voters register. And now with only hours left to Election Day, I am still uncertain whether I will be able to cast my ballot," said Mercyline Anyango a voter at Sports Ground, the sub-county's largest polling station by number of registered voters.

John Omenya claimed he had been taken in circles at Huduma Centre for over two weeks after learning that his name was missing from the register after he checked his voting status using the IEBC's SMS platform.

Mr John Lorionokou said the matter could not be settled at the county level and sent them back to the sub-county tallying centre, where they claimed to have also been turned away.

He said the SMS service was not "very reliable" and advised the disgruntled voters to patiently follow up the matter at the sub-county office.