Police search for people who dropped over 60 IDs outside a Kisumu club

Residents gather at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Grounds in Kisumu County to register as voters on March 15 2016; the last day of the nationwide voter registration. PHOTO: COLLINS ODUOR

KISUMU: Police are looking for unknown people who dumped over 40 national Identification cards and 20 voters card in front of a club in Kisumu on Monday night.

According to a club attendant, the cards were dropped by unknown people driving in a black van.
"They came and sent away anyone who was outside including the twilight girls and later dropped them and sped off," said the attendant.

The incident which happened on the eve of the deadline of voter registration attracted curious onlookers who drew closer to see what had been dropped. After realizing that they were ID and voters' cards, they called the police who came in the morning to pick the documents up.

Kisumu OCPD Christopher Mshimba confirmed the incident saying they have the documents in their custody and are probing the incident to find out who are behind the same.

"Apart from the ID and voters' cards, there were also job identification and Automated Teller machine (ATM) cards. We suspect those who dropped them might have taken them from public notice boards where lost IDs are pinned," said Mshimba.

There have been concerns over low voter turnout all over the country because many people do not have national ID cards or have lost the crucial documents.

Meanwhile, voters sneaked from their working places to beat the mass voter registration deadline which was Tuesday.

Those who wanted to register afresh or confirm if they are in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission (IEBC) system thronged various polling stations in Kisumu.

They reported to the centers as early as seven in the morning to register and later sneaked from work during mid-morning to register.

Daniel Ochieng, a guard working at a security firm said he has not found time to register because he has a tight daytime shift.

"Today I told my boss I was going for a short call but instead detoured to the next bodaboda stage and took one to this place. But I am not worried of losing my job because it is my constitutional right to register and vote," said Ochieng.

A spot check by The Standard at various registration centers within Kisumu Central Constituency on the last day of the MVR revealed a last minute dash by voters to register.

Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, Aga Khan, Migosi and Pandpieri Primary School were full with people registering as voters and others confirming.

The clerks who for many weeks have not been busy were up on their toes serving one voter after the other and in between taking refreshments to re-energize following long queues of people who turned out.

A clerk attested to the fact that the last five days the turnout has been impressive as opposed to the previous ones.

Another clerk also said he was surprised that they filled the IEB voter acknowledgment slip.