Politicians in Kisii have been warned against transferring voters from one electoral area to the other.
County Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Returning Officer Dr Sydney Namulungu warned that some politicians had the unwarranted intention and urged them to cease.
Speaking during the launch of voters registration exercise at Kisii National Polytechnic, Dr Namulungu said that they had witnessed two incidents where some politicians were transporting voters from one ward to another for registration.
“What worries us more is that even if you try to ask such leaders why they are doing that they don’t have genuine reasons,” Dr Namulungu said.
According to him, the county has experienced a low turn out of eligible Kenyans for registration .
“The county has only registered 2000 new voters,” he said.
He said that they are targeting youths who acquired national identification card from 2017 when Kenya had it’s last general election.
“98 percent of the population we are targeting are the youths and 2 percent are adults,” Dr Namulungu said.
Mr Namulungu urged leaders to take the initiative and sensitize the public to register as voters.
County Commissioner Alan Machariah asked youths who applied for national identification cards to pick them from the registration and local administration officers.
He noted that there are many uncollected identification cards at the local Huduma Centre branch.
County Governor James Ongwae urged the youth to utilize social media to influence their peers to turn out in large number and register.
“We can bargain for more resources on the basis of our population,” the governor said.
The county had 549,965 registered voters by the time the country went to the 2017 polls.
IEBC is now targeting to hit 753,453 by the end of the ongoing exercise.
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