Mourners at funerals in Kisumu County will not be served food unless they produce an ID and a voter’s card following a directive by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) officials in the county.
This requirement is designed to ensure that more people register as voters as the party begins to prepare for the 2017 General Election. The party is keen to ensure that its candidate gets as many votes as possible, said ODM Kisumu Central Chairman Seth Adui Kanga.
“We are urging funeral committees in CORD strongholds to adhere to this directive in a bid to improve the number of registered voters in the area,” said Kanga.
The party is taking the voter registration seriously, he said.
Two weeks ago party leader Raila Odinga (pictured) urged ODM supporters to register as voters in large numbers.
“You must be armed with your national identity card as your gun and voter’s card as your bullet for me to stand a chance in 2017,” said Raila.
Kisumu Central ODM Treasurer Edward Ogolla said the measures introduced to promote voter registration were not illegal.
“We will demand that we see passengers’ ID and voter’s card before they board buses at the main bus park. We will also look at the same documents at Kibuye and Jubilee markets to ensure that traders who operate there have the tools that will steer our party leader to State House,” said Ogolla.
Addressing mourners at a burial in Nyatike, Migori County, last month, Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma lamented that in the 2013 elections, more than 1.8 million registered voters in Nyanza did not vote.
Homa Bay Town MP Opondo Kaluma is mobilising youths in the area to identify those without voting cards. The legislator is also targeting worshippers.
CORD co-principal Moses Wetang’ula has on many occasions repeated that registering as voters and voting overwhelmingly was the only way to secure victory for their candidate.
Some 304,965 people in Nyanza have acquired ID cards over the past two years. This compares to 285,582 people in Western Kenya, 276,825 in the South Rift and 222,683 in Central Kenya. In the Coast 215,912 people have acquired IDs compared to 190,129 in Lower Eastern, 183,592 in North Rift, 147,995 in Upper Eastern, 126,340 in Nairobi and 28,000 in North Eastern.
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