Kenya in mass registration drive

KENYA’S election commission began a drive yesterday to register millions of new voters ahead of August elections, with rival parties going all out to get their supporters to sign up.

Authorities estimate that four to six million people have yet to register, crucial numbers that could swing the result.

Kenya’s vote for a president and MPs on August 8 is set to be a hard-fought election decided in large part along ethnic lines.

The main opposition parties, which banded together last week to form the National Super Alliance (Nasa), are counting on new voters to help them unseat incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slum, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) set up speakers blaring music next to a registration booth, while orange-clad motorcyclists whizzed through the streets to lure out voters.

ODM leader Raila Odinga, 72, who has lost three previous elections and is eager to be the candidate of the new coalition, was set to make a stop in the slum on a whirlwind tour of the city to rally supporters.

Many first-time voters were among those lining up to register, complaining about water shortages in the slum, and lack of employment.

Youth joblessness in Kenya is among the highest in East Africa. Unemployed Fanuel Otieno, 23, said: “We would like to see new leaders who are responsible and who can take good care of Kenyans.”

Kenyatta will also tour the country over the next month.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said its voter registration drive would last until February 14.

Already, 15.9 million Kenyans have registered, against the 14.4 million who did so in 2013.

Election officials have in the past been accused of not doing enough to register voters in opposition strongholds.

“We demand that IEBC carries out a fair, just and transparent registration of voters,” Odinga said last week.