Door-to-door voter registration in Mombasa has considerably increased the number of people who have come out to list themselves ahead of the August 8 polls.
This is according to Mombasa subcounty administration officials, who have been moving around urging people to come out to register.Gideon Odhiambo, assistant director of operations, said the method has helped the register many residents.
“We came across people as old as 50 years, who have never before registered as voters and we were able to convince them to register,” he said.
He said a majority of the youthful population between the ages of 18-25 do not see the need to participate in elections, but through the campaign, many have registered.The region has seen very few people coming out to register as voters since the exercise kicked off on January 16, according to data from IEBC. But the Mombasa subcounty administration said they have inched closer to beat the IEBC target of 192,727 voters in the county.
The exact figure of registered voters in Mombasa has not yet been released. A majority of the people with disability, expectant mothers, elderly people and people working in industries are among those who have been able to register courtesy of the door-to-door campaign.
The Mombasa county government worked with IEBC officials in ensuring the mobile voter registration was successful in many parts of the region. IEBC officials, chiefs, voter educators, ward development committees and village elders were involved in the exercise.
Fatma Mbaruk, an assistant director of coordination at Mombasa subcounty administration, said the number of people during the campaign the number of people coming out to register shot from 15 on average to over 80 per polling station.
Nyali IEBC coordinator Aisha Mohamed said the subcounty administration and other partners played a lead role in mobilising residents to register as voters through the door-to-door campaign.
“In the last two weeks since the IEBC and the subcounty administration began the door-to-door campaign, the numbers have significantly gone up,” she said. She said in almost all the polling stations doubled.