A lobby group in Bungoma County is asking Kenyans to visit IEBC offices or the civic voter educators to check if they are in the IEBC voters register.
Speaking with the Media, Brian Seli, the coordinator of the Emerging Leaders Foundation (ELF) in Bungoma County said that he took the chance to convene a meeting with ELF officials from all the nine Constituencies in Bungoma so that they can help in extending the message to the villages.
Mr. Seli noted that during the IEBC voters’ registration, Bungoma County didn’t hit the set target, the reason why ELF has taken the initiative to urge residents to visit IEBC office inorder to ensure that they are in the register ready to participate in the August voting exercise.
“Kindly let’s visit IEBC offices and confirm that we are in the official IEBC register. Voting is a constitutional right that every Kenyan need to take part and elect a leader of their choice,” he said, adding that some people evade participating in the election process then in turn start complaining about the elected leaders.
He added that his organization also works with IEBC officials in villages to ensure that people who don’t have access to the internet are enlightened on the voting process.
“I have incorporated IEBC officials in our working schedule so that we involve them fully and direct them to areas where residents need much help over the voter’s confirmation,” he said.
He said that the organization is looking forward to convening a meeting with all Bungoma County gubernatorial aspirants so that they can be interviewed and get to know their manifesto and how they will help youths.
“The reason as to why we want to have a meeting with gubernatorial aspirants is to ask them what they have for the youths because many of the aspirants forget about youths whenever they clinch power,” he said, adding that the organization is pushing to have a youth in every department after the August polls.
He said that the organization will inquire from the current county administration about the County Integrated Development plan (CIDP) and what they have been able to do within the five years’ time frame.
Felix Omondi IEBC Civic voter educator in Bungoma County told the media that as the IEBC officials they are facing a lot of challenges during the important exercise that kicked off on 19th May 2022.
Omondi pointed out that some people don’t want to be verified using the IEBC gadget adding that some argue that they are being tricked to vote.
“The main problem we are going through as civil voters’ educators in villages is that some people are assuming that they are being tricked to vote,” Omondi said.
In his appeal, Omondi asked residents to use the IEBC online portal, send their Identification number to 70,0000, visit IEBC offices or use the civil voters’ educators in the wards to check if they are in the IEBC register so that they can take part in an important voting exercise.
“Voting is one’s constitutional right. Let’s just be self-driven and participate fully in choosing the leaders,” he said.
IAN BYRON