As Hon. Mwai Kibaki the President of the Republic of Kenya was launching the Voter registration at the KICC, the voter registration in Kibera and the rest of the country had kicked off. Particularly for Kibera, Map Kibera Trust had resolved to cover and monitor events before, during and after the elections. Voter registration therefore is such an event.
For this voter registration exercise the 3 Map Kibera trust programs were out in the field to cover/get a feel of the process. The Voice of Kibera team was able to visit registrations stations as:-
Olympic, Karanja, Undugu, Laini Saba, mashimoni, Makini, Raila Education Centre, Old Kibera, Lindi, Silanga, Soweto East, Kanmbi muru, Ayany and Dc among others.
Turn-Out of People at Registration Station.
There was low turn-out in most of the polling-stations. “It is not a surprise to find a low turn-out on the first day”, said one of the IEBC officers at Mashimoni Squatters registration center. In Mashimoni, Raila Education center and DC, queues were building up quickly an indication that people were coming in numbers to register for the voting process. In some registration centers like YMCA there was more than one registration kit an indication that some areas like this one has a large number of people registering.
Response/Perception of the people towards the process
“The turn-out is low and I am mobilizing people to come and register”, said Fredrick Obenge an ODM aspirant.
Another community member was of the view that, even if the process was delayed, she was not going to give up her democratic right of voting in the right leaders thus registering was the only way she could ensure that she votes for the leader she wants.
Challenges of the process.
In some areas the voter registration was delayed due to some challenges which were faced. An example is the Old Kibera Registration center where the registration clerks had to move from their location to A local NGO (Kibera Women Network) due to lack of electricity.
Some registration officers had to look for other locations because they could not use the schools which the voter registration was scheduled to happen because classes were going on.
The VOK Team.