Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should consider extending the mass voter registration exercise by a month to reach many eligible voters who are yet to register, Nominated Senator Janet Ongera has said.
The electoral body is set to begin a month long registration exercise from February 15 to March 15, 2016.
Ms Ongera believes one month will not be adequate for registration of millions of Kenyans.
She claimed that the BVR kits which were dispatched to wards for the exercise are insufficient.
“IEBC should not expect us to complain every time. The BVR kits which were deployed to specific regions are less and cannot handle the high number of eligible people expected to register.
The statistics from the office of the register of persons indicates thousands of people who should be registered and I just want to urge them to extend the exercise by a month,” she said.
The former ODM party chief executive said the commission was at liberty to table a budget proposal to Parliament to request for more funding.
“I understand that Parliament should be the one responsible for allocating them (IEBC) resources but again it’s important that officials table their budget so that the house can allocate more resources to sustain the exercise for two months. It’s the right of people to be registered as voters and the government must do that,” she said.
Ongera who was speaking at Magena region in Bomachoge constituency on Sunday urged locals to turn up in large numbers for registration and use their votes to choose dependable leaders.