Raila Odinga sounds alarm over slow voter listing in Nyanza

ODM leader Raila Odinga has expressed disappointment at the slow pace of voter registration in his political backyard of Luo Nyanza.

With about a week to the end of the nationwide exercise, the former Prime Minister has sounded the alarm by pleading with youngsters to register and build up numbers ahead of the 2022 General Election.

The ODM leader pitched camp in Kisumu yesterday to rally the youth to registration centres.

“I’ve toured the whole country and everywhere I go, they are pushing me to go for the top seat. But I am worried that while in other regions the youth are registering as voters in large numbers, things are slow in Nyanza. We cannot go to this battle if my soldiers are not armed with the national ID as a gun and the voter’s card as a bullet,” said Mr Odinga.

He toured Ahero, Rabuor, Nyamasaria, Kondele and Kisumu Bus Park, where he made a passionate appeal to residents to turn out for registration.

He was accompanied by ODM Deputy Party Leader and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, Chairman John Mbadi, Kisumu Woman Rep Roza Buyu, Kisumu Central MP Fred Ouda, Kisumu Speaker Elisha Oraro and Kisumu Central parliamentary hopeful Joshua Oron.

Voter registration

IEBC launched the enhanced voter registration on October 4 and it’s scheduled to end on November 2, after which data will be compiled and cleaned before the voters verify their details for a month early next year.

The commission seeks to register six million new eligible Kenyans, on the basis of information from the National Bureau of Statistics 2019 Population and Housing Census report.

Yesterday, IEBC said only 760, 000 new voters had registered against the targeted 4.5 million on the third week. As of October 17, it had registered only 491, 968 (15.47 per cent) out of the targeted three million. In Nyanza, they had targeted 727, 661, but had registered a paltry 71, 208, translating to only 9.7 per cent.

Low voter turnout has also been witnessed in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backyard, with Kiambu, Nyeri, Nyandarua and Murang’a falling under the bottom 10 category of those with the least new voters.

“We have had two liberation movements, which brought change in a country that had suffered adversely in poverty, diseases and ignorance. We are heading to the third liberation, which is an economic revolution that will be spearheaded by the youth. This can only happen when the youth take this exercise seriously,” said Mr Odinga.

He urged the youth to embrace the Sh10 billion Kazi Mtaani programme and take advantage of the tax holiday for start-ups and existing businesses.

Social protection

The ODM leader reiterated his pledge for a Sh6,000 monthly stipend in his ‘biggest social protection programme’ targeting two million people from low-income families in informal settlements that will cost Sh140 billion. “I’ve been a Prime Minister for five years, so I can’t just talk, trust me I know where the funds will come from. The President said we lose Sh600 billion annually while my programme will only cost Sh140 billion. This will be available after I seal all the graft loopholes in government.

“We have various careers that the youth can pursue other than pushing the wheelbarrow for a living. We want the youth to be empowered financially to expand the small and medium business.”