The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should start registering voters early in a bid to avoid a late-minute rush, residents of South Mugirango have said.
Speaking on Sunday at a fundraising ceremony, speaker after speaker faulted the commission for failing to reach all potential voters in a bid to register them and also as a way of preventing a rush in 2017 polls.
According to them, officials from the elections body should traverse in all constituencies across the nation to ensure that services are delivered in a much effective and efficient manner.
“IEBC is mandated to register voters but it is surprising that no one has ever registered us since 2013. The delay tactic is not good for our nation and perhaps this is why we have constant political rhetoric in the country. Officials should ensure they have traversed all region and registered people as per the law,” said Mr Erick Nyasani.
They further called upon the government to reduce the number of commissioners in the electoral body from the current nine to at most three since they did not have much work to do.
“Let us all agree that the commissioners are too many and there is a need to reduce them to at most three. Kenya doesn’t need many commissioners. What they perhaps need to do is to increase the number of officials at county level who can do registration,” added Mr Christopher Nyaganga.
They asked the opposition to push for early registration but slammed the recent call by opposition to boycott 2017 polls.
“They should ensure we are registered as the opposition. We really don’t need to hear about boycotting an election. It is our right to participate in polls,” Nyaganga added.