An image showing Kenyans queuing to vote in 2013. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
Kwale is among counties that recorded the highest number of spoilt votes during the 2013 election, an IEBC official has said.
Kwale County IEBC head Amina Hussein Sudi said on Thursday the electoral body would roll out civic education to teach residents how to mark ballot papers ahead of the August poll.“That number is too high to register at a time we feel most Kenyans are enlightened enough to make such minor errors,” she told journalists.“We are partnering with civil society groups to educate the public on how to vote. Those who will not be comfortable marking the ballot paper with a pen will be assisted to stamp their fingerprints on the paper. Our target is to cut the number of spoilt votes to as low as 0.1 per cent.”She said in 2013, only 67 per cent (116,876) out of Kwale’s 174,443 registered voters participated in the election. This was against the national average voter turnout that stood at 80 per cent.Amina spoke three days after a scholar decried increasing poor performance among high school students in Kwale.Taita Taveta University Vice Chancellor Hamadi Boga who comes from the county said the trend was so worrying that the number of professionals working in both private and public sectors from the county had dropped.Boga who spoke in Ukunda where he met aspirants eying various political seats urged the politicians to use their influence to uplift education standards in the Coastal County.“Every year, on average, Kwale registers 5,000 candidates for the KSCE examinations. Out of these, more than 4,000 score between grades D plain and E. In general, about 75 per cent of all registered candidates score D, D- and E. What is the future of such young people?” he asked blaming parents for the trend.