- He had been there from 3am and emphasised how nothing can prevent him from voting, as long as ‘Baba’ is on the ballot.
- Yusuf Toure, a resident of Imara Daima said the voter apathy was a protest against poor leadership.
Image: Alice Waithera
As early as 4am on Tuesday, voters in Kibra chanted songs and blew vuvuzelas and whistles calling others to come out and cast their ballots.
“Presidency is coming home, you will sleep tomorrow,” Paul Ouma chorused, as he lit a flashlight to pore over the voter roll.
He had been there from 3am and emphasised how nothing could prevent him from voting, as long as ‘Baba’ was on the ballot.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is running against Deputy President William Ruto and Roots Party leader George Wajackoyah and Agano's Waihiga Mwaure.
But though the people arrived early and had anticipated long queues, the voter turnout was low.
"By now, the line would have stretched beyond that block, but it is too early to tell," Ouma said.
Though it was early to tell then, IEBC later in the day confirmed Ouma’s sentiments.
By 2pm, only 30 per cent of the registered voters had voted nationwide.
The commission estimated that the final turnout would be around 60 per cent, which would be one of the lowest in the country's voting history.
In 2017 the final turnout was 78 per cent for the general election and 86 per cent in 2013. The 2007 poll recorded a 68 per cent turnout.
Kennedy Mutheu sat pensively on his packed motorcycle just outside Mukuru Community Social Centre where the Embakasi South votes were being tallied.
His expression quickly changed showing agitation when we asked him if he voted.
“Vote for what? I have no time to waste queueing to make the rich richer when I do not know what my children will have for dinner,” he said.
“I knew from 2018 that I will never vote, and ever since politicians have only given me more reasons not to.”.
Mutheu said before the 2017 repeat election, he would be the first to wake up his family and ensure everybody voted.
“Today, I do not care whether or not they vote. My wife was so proudly displaying her inked finger when in fact, her kiosk at Kwa Njenga was demolished,” he said bitterly.
Mutheu said his entire ‘voting gang’, which comprised of six men and their families had not voted this year.
“Kenya had a chance to make things right when Supreme Court nullified the elections. But the leaders insisted that we move on, so we did,” he said.
Mutheu told the Star that there were good leaders on the ballot, but he does not trust the IEBC.
If he believed his vote would make a difference, Mutheu said he would have patiently waited in line to vote.
Peter Kimani a voter at Kilimani Primary School had a different opinion.
For him, ‘no candidate on the ballot was fit to lead the country.’
“Why do I have to pick a lesser devil? Why can’t we have people who we know will bring change?” he asked.
He added that the many cases of misuse of public funds, corruption and how the leaders go unpunished have shown that the leaders are only focused on their interests.
"We keep electing leaders who plunder our taxes. My sister who works at a restaurant said the holiday was for her to rest but she is still at work to meet the rising cost of living,” he said.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced that only 12,065,803 registered voters, out of 22,120,458, had cast their votes by Tuesday evening.
IEBC Commissioner Francis Wanderi noted that the figure, which represented a 56.17 per cent turnout, excluded voters who had cast their ballots manually and those who voted in the last hour of the official timeline.
Yusuf Toure, a resident of Imara Daima, said the voter apathy was a protest against poor leadership.
“Kenyans are fed up with poor leadership and high cost of living and after voting they still witness many scandals and lies by those they entrusted to lead them," he said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)