Voting kicks off in Mt Kenya region with isolated cases of slow voter identity kits

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Voting started on a slow pace in most parts of Mt Kenya.

In Nyeri morning showers drenched the early birds but queues were unrelenting.

In Meru, voting was slow in North Imenti due to voter identity kits slow response.

Only 20 people had voted by 8.00am at Mosque Road, Kirukuri Road, Pig and Whistle, Mohamed Moti and Kenya Power Polling Station in North Imenti.

At Ncuui Primary School in Tigania East, over 100 voters had voted in stream one of the station with 472 voters by 8.30 am.

Presiding Officer Monicah Mithika praised her clerks saying they had managed to utilise all of the three voter identification methods to make the queues move faster.

Ms Mithika added that most of the rural voters had disfigured fingerprints owing to heavy farming activities.

"The kits are rejecting the fingerprints at which point we resort to alpha numeric identification," it working perfectly and we can't complain” she said.

In Embu, presidential Candindate Joe Nyaga voted by 8.30am at NJ Mwonge Primary School in Mbeere South.

In Kirinyaga, Governor Joseph Ndathi voted at Rukenya Primary School while Martha karua cast her ballot at Nugumo primary school polling station at 6.52 am. 

Meru governor Peter Munya voted at Ncuui Primary School at 9.30 am.