Bungoma county targets to register 186,000 new voters in the next three weeks.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission rolled out the second and last phase of enhanced voter registration on Monday. The 21-day exercise runs from January 17 to February 6.
County elections manager Solomon Mudanya said during the last mass voter registration drive, the IEBC registered 52,000 new voters in the county, representing 40 per cent of the targeted number.
He told the Star on Tuesday that they were still targeting to list 186,000 new voters.
He said the Registrar of Persons report shows that after the first mass registration drive, more than 186,000 people applied and collected their identification cards, many of them being youth.
"I think the time that IEBC has given us is enough to visit any registration centre and get registered,” Mudanya told the Star.
He said every ward has three registration kits manned by two IEBC clerks who move from one place to another to ensure no one is left out.
Mudanya said there was a low turnout on Monday due to heavy rains that pounded the region.
"On Monday, Bungoma received heavy rains that hindered many people from venturing out, but from today (Tuesday) the weather is friendly. I hope the turnout will improve," he said.
Bungoma Registrar of Persons director Scholastica Arucho told the Star that during the first mass registration drive, they had more than 10,000 uncollected IDs in their offices.
She said they took all of them to assistant chiefs and the owners have collected them.
Arucho urged all eligible residents who are not registered as voters and have IDs to do so before the end of the 21 days.
She urged people who had applied for IDs to collect them to be eligible for voter registration.
"Most youth had previously applied for IDs that have been processed and sent to the assistant chiefs. I would like to call on them to go and pick their IDs as it is a requirement during registration as a voter," Arucho said.
She said enough awareness creation has been done to ensure every Kenyan above the age of 18 years is registered as a voter.
"We have done sensitisation in churches and in women's groups to ensure they take part in the voter registration exercise," Arucho said.
Edited by A.N
