The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya (IEBC) says it is suspending the second phase of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) drive which has been ongoing to enroll citizens’ biometrics since January.

The reason for the halt is to enable voters to verify their biometrics and other data on the Preliminary Voter Register which has been compiled by the IEBC.

The Star reports that the announcement was made recently by the Chairperson of the IEBC Wafula Chebukati in a gazette notice in which he called on all registrants to check if their data was properly captured at the time of registration. The suspension is due to take effect from Wednesday 4 May, per the report.

Citizens have until 30 May to verify their records on the voter roll, but the voter registration suspension will be in place until March 13, 2023, according to The Star.

Kenyans go to polls for general elections due to take place on 9 August 2022.

Speaking on the matter, the IEBC boss was quoted as saying: “The commission notifies the pubic that this suspension is to enable availability of the register of voters to the public for purposes of verification of biometric data and particulars of registered voters in accordance with sections 6A of the Elections Act, 2011.”

According to Chebukati, all those who applied to have their names enrolled on the voter register but their biometric data was not appropriately captured, will have the opportunity to channel a complaint to the Registration Office before 30 May for correction.

The second and final phase of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration in Kenya started in mid-January with calls for the IEBC to make the registration campaign more inclusive.

The biometric technology used in the process is provided by Idemia. - Biometric Update

Photo Courtesy A A

KAMPALA, Uganda 

Persistent rains that started on Friday have displaced 800 families so far in eastern Uganda, according to authorities on Wednesday. 

The police in Kween district said that Ngenge sub-county and Sundet sub-county in Kween district have been greatly affected by the floods that left over 2,000 people from 800 families homeless.

The floods also destroyed 1,000 acres of planted maize, sorghum, and beans and killed a lot of livestock.

"Apart from destroying homes, the floods have killed an unspecified number of chickens and goats and I don’t know what will happen since the rains are still continuing," local council secretary for Ngenge sub-county, Joel Cherop, said in an interview.

Bena Chemutai, one of the village's health team members in Ngenge sub-county told Anadolu Agency that the situation is "terrible" and the affected people are now staying in classrooms and verandahs of schools.

"We have fears that many children are likely to fall sick from malaria since they are sleeping in the open without mosquito nets," said Chemutai.

Albina Awor, the chief administrative officer in Kween, has appealed for support from the office of the prime minister.  Source: Anadolu Agency

The Kenyan government has declared a month-long dusk to dawn curfew in the northern Marsabit County following a spike in insecurity.

Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i, while announcing the curfew, said security agencies have been deployed to rid the region of illegal firearms.

"Effective from 6:00 p.m. on May 2, we have placed the whole of Marsabit County under curfew to be followed by an operation to rid of illegal guns causing havoc there. Leaders in the area are urged to cooperate," he said.

"We must get all illegal firearms from that place. We will stay there until the job is done," he added.

In recent months, dozens of people have been killed in the region, with the attacks attributed partly to herders who were searching for pastures for their livestock during the dry period.

In February, President Uhuru Kenyatta asked the region’s leaders to provide a community-initiated strategy to stop the conflicts, failure to which the government would deploy security agencies with strict instructions to forcefully end insecurity in the county. - CGTN