Lack of national IDs to blame for voter apathy, new survey reveals

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

A majority of Kenyans who did not register to vote have cited lack of Identification Cards as the main reason they were locked out of the exercise.?

A new study by Strategic Research and Communications Consultants released yesterday says 63.5 per cent of the Kenyans who were interviewed blamed the delay in issuance of IDs as the major let down in their participation to register as voters.

Another 13.5 per cent said they did not bother to register because they were not interested. Only 3.8 per cent of those interviewed for the poll conducted between December 17 and 19 said they did not register because they were sick.? Interestingly, 5.8 per cent of Kenyans said the voter registration? was not worth their time.?

 Contrary to earlier reports, this study did not cite inadequate time allocated by the elections agency as one of the reason that led to voter apathy.?

Only 14 million voters registered against the 18 million set by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).?

 Some 1,500 people were interviewed across 36 counties through a semi-structured questionnaires administered using face-to-face interviews.

According to the poll, even as Kenyans registered, 54.6 per cent of them said their biggest fear ahead of the General Election is violence.?

The chief executive officer of the research agency, Ceasar Handa said many Kenyans interviewed were still scared of a possible eruption of violence during next year’s poll.?

“The effects of post-election violence are still fresh in their? memories and most of them feel violence may recur,” he said.? Another 20.2 per cent expressed fears over possibility of heightened insecurity. Only 8.7 per cent said they do not have any fear at all.?

They however, said insecurity is still the greatest challenge in the country today with 30.2 per cent saying so.