Section of Taita residents raise alarm over migration of voters

Some Taita Taveta County residents have claimed that voter details have been illegally transferred in the ongoing mass registration drive by the electoral agency.

Politicians in the region, they claimed, are facilitating the migration of voters from other areas into the county as they seek to raise their numbers ahead of the 2022 elections.

Led by Taveta resident Morris Mutiso, they alleged that some politicians are bringing in non-residents to register as voters and others to change their polling stations.

"I urge IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) to be keen, because some of those who are coming to register here are not from this county and they don't live here," he said.

He said politicians are taking advantage of loopholes in law to allow voters to transfer from one polling station to another.

Voter registration regulations require that a resident seeking a transfer must be a resident of that area or must have been one for the last six months. The application must include a letter from the local chief showing that the person is a resident of the area.

"I talked to IEBC officers on this issue. There are a lot of illegal transfers being made. We will scrutinise every voter transfer from neighbouring constituencies and counties," Mr Mutiso said.

Although it is hard to enforce the condition, he said, the letter will prevent fraudulent transfers to the region.

"The Elections Act provides that a voter is not qualified to transfer registration unless on the date of their application they had been a resident in that constituency for six months. Some of those being registered don't live here," he said.

He claimed some politicians are now engaged in illegal transfers to deprive residents of their democratic rights.

"We are fully aware of their plans. Those involved are known and these illegal schemes should be stopped," he said.

Another resident, Gerald Moses, accused some local chiefs of issuing letters without verifying the residency of applicants.

"Some are also taking bribes before giving out the letters. This means they will not do any fact-checking," he claimed.

The allegations come as Taita Taveta residents continue to shun the new-voter listing.

The county has registered only 9,289 voters out of the targeted 34,577.

National and county government officials have launched a drive that involves chiefs and other administrators to ensure that residents register.

Taita Taveta IEBC coordinator Swalha Yusuf said they had received complaints regarding the migration of voters in Taveta constituency.

But she said IEBC had not received any evidence to verify the claims.

"Before we take any action, we verify first. I checked with our register, but I did not see any transfers on the date mentioned. Some of the claims are rumours that cannot be verified," she said.

IEBC, she said, depends on chiefs to confirm residency.

"We don't do the transfer without the chief's letter. It's hard to confirm whether the person is a resident of that area or not," she said.

She also said that voter apathy was partly a result of delays in issuing identity cards to young people.

In Taveta, out of the targeted 6,567, only 2,317 have registered. In Voi, 3,240 of the targeted 12,125 have listed, while in Mwatate, 6,911 of 8,970 have registered. In Wundanyi, 1,707 of the targeted 2,030 have listed.

"We hope that the numbers will go up as we near the end of the exercise," she said.

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