Lamu, KENYA: The ongoing voter registration exercise is facing a huge shortage following the few people who are turning up to register themselves as voters in the county.
According to the IEBC Coast Coordinator Amina Soud,not a single person has turned for registration in Basuba ward in Lamu East even as the exercise enters its third day.
Speaking on Tuesday,Soud said IEBC had carried out enough voter education and that there was no reason for people to fail to register themselves.
She said there could be other personal underlying reasons why people in most centers in Lamu were not willing to register even after the IEBC did everything to ensure the exercise progresses smoothly.
The IEBC official said the clerks in Basuba have been idling around and had nothing to do after people failed to turn up.
In most of the voter registration centers visited,the situation was worse with only two or three people having been registered by Tuesday evening.
“The exercise began well but shockingly,those turning up at the centers are very few.In Basuba for instance,the clerks are just idling the day away ,”said Soud.
She said there was also a possibility that residents were waiting for the last minute so they could rush and register as has always been the norm in Lamu.
A total of 44 BVR machines have already been spread out in Lamu West and another 19 in Lamu East in order to aid in the exercise.
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A total of 126 voter registration clerks have also been employed to conduct the exercise with the IEBC projecting the number of voters to be registered at 20,430 all over Lamu.
