With less than a week remaining before IEBC concludes the ongoing month long Voter Registration Exercise, only 12,381 people have registered as voters out of the targeted 58,000 in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
The County Election Manager, John Cox, said Marakwet West Constituency was leading with 3,758 newly registered voters, Keiyo South (3,196), Keiyo North (2,871), while Marakwet East has so far registered 2,556 new voters.
Noting that they are mainly targeting youths who acquired their national identification cards from 2017 to date, the manager said they have been visiting schools and colleges within the county in an effort to ease the registration process.
He called on youths who are studying in colleges outside the county to ensure they register wherever they are, noting they will be registered according to their constituencies irrespective of their current locality.
”We have made special arrangements for our officers to go round schools to register all qualified voters. They will be registered according to their constituencies regardless of the place they are currently in,” he said
Cox stated that as a county, they are using various stakeholders to go around the villages and market centers to urge those who have not registered to do so.
“We are using relevant stakeholders such as chiefs and other leaders to urge the local youths to avail themselves for registration. We have also educated other members of the public on the importance of participating in elections,” he said.
The manager further called upon those who are yet to register to do so before it’s too late stating that IEBC has a tight budget, hence there is zero possibilities for additional days.
The exercise is expected to be completed by November 2, 2021.
By Mark Makuto and Alice Wanjiru
