As the registration of voters kicked off countrywide on September 29th, the exercise in Elgeyo Marakwet witnessed poor turnout with no one turning up for registration in Keiyo North for the last two days.
An assistant registration officer with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Robert Tarus said, while the sub county was targeting to register 1,104 new voters in the constituency, only two people had visited the offices in Iten to transfer their polling centres.
Tarus is therefore calling on leaders, stakeholders and parents to mobilize the young people to register saying all one needed was the national identity card or passport.
He said the commission had installed a registration system, which ensures fast registration saying it only takes a maximum of two minutes to register.
“We are calling on the youth to turn up and register during the ongoing exercise instead of waiting for the last-minute rush.
Our system is so fast, you can register within 2 minutes after which you can continue with your other activities,” he said.
Tarus, however, expressed optimism that they would surpass the set target once the commission goes out to offer civic education to the youth on the need to register, saying this would see them coming to register out of their own volition.
Dominic Leparmalai, an IEBC voter registration officer, said the exercise was ongoing in the Chesoi office for Marakwet East, Kapsowar (Marakwet West) and Iten for Keiyo North, saying they were targeting 6,099 new voters in the county.
Leparmalai, however, said there was no registration going on in Keiyo South at the moment due to the by-election for Metkei ward, which would take place on November 27th.
He called on registered voters to also visit their offices to update their details saying the officers were open from 8.00am to 5.00pm.
The commission is targeting to register 1,245 voters in Marakwet East, 1,670 in Marakwet West, 1,404 in Keiyo North and 1,779 in Keiyo South.
In 2022, the county had 213,884 registered voters with Marakwet East having 43,672, Marakwet West 58,568, Keiyo North 49,247 and Keiyo South 62,397 voters.
By Alice Wanjiru
