45 days too few to register all voters

The voter registration exercise must be accorded more time than the scheduled 45 days.

Considering that voting is the most powerful democratic tool available to the masses, the casual manner in which the process is being handled is worrying.

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) has indicated there are 21 million eligible voters but due to time constraints, it will only register ten million voters at most.

So, what about the rest of the eligible voters? Why aren’t they targeted? Why should the Government put up barriers that may lead to millions of wananchi being disenfranchised?

It is a horribly mediocre threshold for the Government to intentionally put in place sufficient time to register less than a half of the eligible voters even with an important national undertaking in the name of a referendum pending.

The Constitutional Review Act should be amended to allow the IIEC sufficient time to plan and carry out its mandate rather than having to rush at the last minute.

This would also allow for more time to conduct civil education for a more informed voting exercise during the referendum.

Mobilise the public

The IIEC must up its tempo in mobilising the public to participate in the voter registration. Reports show that IIEC has performed dismally in giving this crucial exercise the visibility it requires when compared to the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK).

Yet the IIEC has a more challenging task when compared to the ECK. Most people are traumatised and view this renewed scramble for votes as the reason why post-election violence occurred. As a result, they are unwilling to register as voters. There is also a feeling the referendum will be a no contest vote and thus no need to register.

Voter education must be expanded by IIEC and non-State actors to include more than just mobilising and showing people how to cast a vote.

It is telling that civil society organisation are not keen on mobilising people to register as voters but will come up with ‘voter education’ after the process is closed and voting in the referendum is imminent.

{Ndolo Asasa, Maragoli}

If certain happenings in the public domain and reports in the media — on voter registration — are anything to go by, we may not hold a referendum anytime soon.

We have more than ten million wananchi who are qualified to vote. So isn’t it strange for IIEC to say it is only targeting ten million voters during the registration period?

What about the other several million voters? The 45-day registration period is not enough, bearing in mind IIEC is rebuilding its voter register.

On top of that, there are people are still reluctant to register because of the memories of post-poll chaos. There are many internally displaced persons still living in camps, and it will take more than just talk to convince them to register for an exercise that changed their lives for the worse.

Civic education should have been carried out nation wide to educate the public on the power their votes wield. The registration period should also be extended to give all eligible voters an opportunity to register.

{Jonathan Rotino, USIU}