Kenya has a healthy number of her sons and daughters living away from home. People move for various reasons including education, greener pastures, family, adventure or to pursue other interests.
The August 2017 elections will be the first time that Kenyans living abroad will vote for the president of their choice.
This is good news for diaspora Kenyans, bearing in mind that there are hundreds of thousands of them.
The national institution that is mandated to register voters, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come up with a new strategy to net in as many voters as possible who live abroad.
The exercise began on February 22nd in the East African nations and South Africa and will run until March 6, 2017.
So far, according to their records, the IEBC has registered 3.7 million new voters against its target of 6.1 million in the just concluded mass listing, according to chairman Wafula Chebukati.
Chebukati told journalists on Tuesday that this amounted to 95 per cent of the lower target of 4 million and 62 per cent of the upper target. The commission registered 3,782,089 in two phases of the mass listing.
This is the opportunity for many Kenyans living in the East African community and in South Africa to show their patriotism.
In Tanzania, one can register to vote in two stations that can be found in Arusha and Dar es Salaam City.
In Rwanda, Kigali is the place to go. Kampala, the capital of Uganda, has another IEBC station to register voters.
Down in South Africa, IEBC is registering new voters in Pretoria.
There is vital information that our brothers and sisters out there should arm themselves with before heading out to these registration centres. Ensure that you meet the following requirements:
1. You must be at least 18 years old
2. You must be having a valid passport
If you live abroad, Kenya is waiting for your vote. Get that voter's card today!