Baringo: Chiefs and their Assistants in Baringo County have been urged to hasten the distribution of already processed Identity Cards to enable the owners to register as voters during the ongoing enhanced continuous voter registration exercise.
According to Kenya News Agency, the County Election Manager, John Mwangi, noted that the delay in ID card issuance and distribution has slowed down the registration exercise in some areas. Speaking during a stakeholder engagement meeting for national government departmental heads at the County Commissioner’s Boardroom in Kabarnet, Mwangi emphasized the commitment to achieving the County Registration target of 32,058 voters by the end of the exercise scheduled to conclude on April 28.
Mwangi stated that these engagements are aimed at strengthening collaboration with key stakeholders and enhancing the effectiveness of voter registration at the grassroots level. He highlighted that the electoral commission decided to convene the meeting to share insights on various strategies that may be adopted to enhance voter registration numbers in the County, which had over 281,000 registered voters as per the 2022 record.
The Election Manager shared that coordinated mobilization efforts and stakeholders’ engagement have been stepped up to ensure the planned target is realized. He revealed that so far, a total of 25,685 new voters have been captured in the six constituencies, translating to an 80.1 percent achievement.
In the engagement meeting chaired by County Commissioner Stephen Kutwa, the election manager commended Tiaty for registering 5,582 voters, surpassing its target of 4,436, which represents 125.3 percent. The achievement was attributed to the current prevailing improved security situation, self-mobilization, community cohesiveness, and political involvement.
County Registrar of Persons, Monica Kurgoi, informed the meeting that there are 4,732 cards lying uncollected at various registration centers, with Huduma Centre, Kabarnet, having 639 of the vital documents, while Mogotio has 1,016 awaiting collections. Koibatek and Baringo North Sub-counties were singled out as low performing areas despite having high population density.
Huduma Centre Manager, Kabarnet, Hellen Masit, stated that they will take Huduma Mashinani to Eldama Ravine in the next two weeks to help increase the low voter numbers in the area. Plans to open a new Huduma Centre in the town are at an advanced stage as a way of bringing services closer to the people.
