By: Elizabeth Yvette
The second phase of voter registration ended on Sunday with fewer than one million voters registered against a target of 4.5 million. The first phase in November netted just 1.5 million new voters.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission were not planning to register any more voters before the August 9 election but it now needs a rethink.
In a democracy, all eligible adults should be able to vote. If they cannot, then that democracy is imperfect.
Unfortunately many young voters have not been able to register to vote because they have not been able to get their national ID cards, especially in north-eastern Kenya.
But it is not just a problem of the north-east. Across the country, young people have failed to negotiate the time-consuming bureaucracy needed to get the ID card without which they cannot vote.
This should be a wake-up call for the Interior ministry. There may be other problems like voter apathy but the government should dedicate the necessary resources to ensure that anyone who is entitled to an ID card is able to get one. And the IEBC should schedule another voter registration drive
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