Drought, lack of IDs keep Lamu residents from voter registration
IEBC clerks register students during the launch of voter listing of college students at UoN Towers at the University of Nairobi on October 13, 2021.
Low voter registration in Lamu County has been attributed to drought and lack of national identity (ID) cards among those 18 and older.
The revelation was made on Wednesday by county IEBC boss Mohamed Adan.
Speaking in his office, Mr Adan noted that with only a week remaining for the mass voter listing to be concluded, only 3,648 new voters of the 15,910 targeted had registered.
This translates to only 23 per cent of the targeted voters since the listing started three weeks ago.
Mr Adan said the drought has pushed eligible residents, mostly pastoralists, away from registration centres as they search for pasture and water for their livestock in other wards and counties.
He explained that clerks were ensuring they reach every corner of the county, with many herders refusing to register until they go back to their home wards.
“We have many herders from Witu and even neighbouring Tana River County now residing in Hindi with their livestock due to the ongoing drought,” he said.
“We have reached out to them but they have refused to register where they are. They insist they will register once they go back home.”
On the issue of IDs, Mr Adan noted that in most villages, especially those on the Somalia border, such as Kiunga, Kiwayu, Mkokoni and Boni forest, many adults have not listed as they are still waiting for the IDs.
Applying for an ID in Lamu is stressful and slow because applicants must be vetted by security agencies.
The national government introduced the vetting in 2014 shortly after the Mpeketoni terror attack after officials established that Al-Shabaab militants were posing as locals and acquiring IDs.
According to records seen by the Nation at the Lamu County Youth Assembly Office, at least 700 young people in Lamu have registered for IDs but have not yet received them.
“IEBC has even involved chiefs’ offices to help us reach every village to ensure those who haven’t registered do so,” Mr Adan said.
“We found that many Kenyans here have no IDs and I suspect that is because of the security situation here and the hurdles involved in getting the document.”
Another reason for the low registration, he said, was that most young people with IDs in Lamu are spread across universities and colleges around Kenya and have not been reached.
Mr Adan noted that more than 10,000 university and college students from Lamu are studying in other parts of the country.
“These students might have registered wherever they are. I am talking about adults who took IDs from 2017 onwards. After compilation and verification of the voter register, I am sure we will hit the 15,910 new voter targets here,” he said
