Update: Already 825,000 registered

dennis kibet

January 24, 2017 4:02 PM

Over 128000 voters details had identical characteristics which have since been addressed - IEBC

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC has said that it has registered about 825000 new voters in the first week, below the earlier target of 1.4 million voters as was projected, the IEBC new chairman

This, according to a report by The Daily Nation represents a 58 per of the target. However, the figures exclude five constituencies including Kilifi North and South, Ganze, Turkana East and Samburu West, which the poll administrator has said is due to “logistical challenges’. These constituencies are currently facing insecurity and drought related problems.

Shared identities

Earlier today, the IEBC indicated that there were anomalies in the voters register, with 128,926 voters known to have shared their identification details, including former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Deputy President Kalonzo Musyoka.

This comes in the midst by a section of the Coalition for Reform and Democracy, CORD co-principals that they share their identification card numbers with other voters, a mishap the electoral body has since corrected.

In his first address as the IEBC chairman in Nairobi, Mr. Chebukati has clarified that the mess could have been brought about by errors of initial entry by registration clerks in the field.

"The commission will also make available the register for verification once the registration is complete. Those who are registering twice should get the message that we shall take the necessary action," said the new IEBC boss, Wafula Chebukati.

New figures

The one-month-long mass voter registration kicked off last week Monday and the commission is targeting to register a total of 6 million new voters, this turn is likely to take the new number of voters in the country to 20 million, the highest since independence.

The political divide has set out a series of meetings across the country to sensitize voters to register and clinch the power. While President Uhuru Kenyatta is in North Eastern’s Garissa town after a week-long in Mount Kenya region, the CORD fraternity has spread out across Eastern, Western and Coastal regions.

dennis kibet