VOTER EDUCATOR REPORT

1. BACKGROUND

In the article 88 (4) (g) of the constitution 2010 mandates the IEBC commission to conduct a voter
education. In execution of this mandate the commission established mechanisms and I was assigned
Yimbo East ward out of the six wards in Bondo Sub County. With this being ECVR II Exercise, 3623
voters were targeted for registration whereby 834 were registered equivalent to 23.01%.

2. KEY ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN

The following activities were undertaken during the ECVR II period.

a) Educating voters on the importance of registering as a voter which gives the citizen the right to
vote.
b) Importance of voting as an individual – voting allows one to have a leader of his own choice that
which lead for the next five years.
c) The voting process – this applied to the youths and other individuals who have never voted before
as they were willing but needed some education on how to vote.
3. STRATEGIES FOR VOTER EDUCATION
- Door to door education on mass voter registration was one of the best strategies that worked well
in in Yimbo East Ward.

- Identifying of group gatherings including Youth groups, chief’s camp, savings groups, churches
and political rallies/meetings was another key strategy to reaching the voters.
- Blocking the roads and checking on the registered voters. Non
registered voter voters were also registered immediately.
- Collecting the IDs from the chiefs and ID registrars’ offices not excluding Bondo and Usigu and
distributing to the owners as we educate & register them.
- Going into the secondary schools and educating those of 18years and above to above for their IDs
which will enable them to register as voters. This also supported in getting those who had applied
for the IDs to follow up on their IDs hence most of the students ended up register as voters.
- In primary schools, the pupils acted as information carrier to their parents, brothers and sisters
hence we got a good response in some areas e.g Ndiwo Primary school.
- Prior visits to the areas where the kits were to move.

4. ACHIEVEMENTS

The ward obtained a percentage of 23.01% of the targeted numbers.

5. CHALLENGES FACES
a) Loss of routes - Some of the roads were not traceable hence it was difficult to reach the expected
destinations to educate the voters.
b) Accessibility of the most interior bushy areas due to bad weathered roads.
c) Adverse weather. E.g rainy days couldn’t allow me to meet the voters in time to educate them nor
could the voters access the registration centers.
d) Inadequate kits. Yimbo East ward is known to be the biggest than others hence a minimum of six
kits could help to avoid too much movement of the clerks once another area of interest has been
identified.
e) Low living standards – most of the voters spend their time in the shambas e.g dominion farms
and some are fishermen and fish mongers hence earn their living by selling their produce hence
they don’t have time to go to the registration centres for registration.
f) Lack of education materials which were promised as voter educators but were never delivered
except a few which were delivered very late. Educating a new registered voter on voting process
becomes difficult with theory technics alone.
g) Late disbursement of the transport money hence one becomes unmotivated of the work and
stagnated.
h) Lack of electricity to print out the work plan in time and other documents for educating for the
voters due to adverse weather. During rainy seasons with the thunderstorms, Yimbo East ward is
known for lack of electricity.
i) Lack of IDs and more IDs pending in the stakeholders offices – out of past experience of delay of
distributing of IDs to the owners, most of the youths are reluctant to apply for the IDs hence a
huge number of people are yet to register.
j) Rejection from the rogue youths regarding the past experiences on post-election violence. Most
of the new registered voters weren’t willing to vote.
k) Lack of one to take photos. Some people weren’t willing to take photos with me until I seek their
consent which didn’t work for most of the time.
l) The voters in need of payment for them to register.
6. INTERVENTIONS
 The intervention for lack of educating materials was through teach and review of videos in
my phone, sticking of stickers on the sign posts, churches gates/doors and school gates.
 Rejection from the rogue youths. I built a good relationship and created a good rapport with
the bodaboda people hence they later supported me in mobilization of the voters to register.
 For those without IDs, I talked to the area chiefs and assistant chiefs who shared the
movement schedule for the ID registrar officials hence by the end of the exercise many
people had applied for the IDs and hoping to register.
 In order to meet the kit movement schedule, I ensured I did a prior visit to the areas of
jurisdiction.
 Ferrying the voters to the registration centers

7. LESSONS LEARNED
 Most of the elderly and youths living in the past experiences of post violence election have a view
that they may be mistreated after voting hence they say it’s better not vote.
 It is more efficient to educate a group of people than to educate individually.

8. OTHER OBSERVATIONS
 Most of the IDs are still pending in the stakeholders offices hence most of the voters haven’t
registered
  Many people are in need of transfers from urban to rural areas but the transport services are
costly hence most of the votes might not be casted.
 Most of the voters believe that someone cannot vote without the elector’s card.

9. RECOMMENDATIONS

I recommend the mass registration exercise and mobilization period to be extended for seven days
before its closed officially. This mostly applies for those who just applied for their IDs e.g students
for it will be difficult to trace the ID owners after they will have gone out of their schools.

There is more need to educate the voters on what is needed for one to vote, this can be done through
pulic address systems or through Politicians upon communication.

Affirmation by the voter educator,/RO/CEMS/HQ staff

Name: …………………………………………………………….

Designation: ………………………………………………………

Area covered: ……………………………………………………..

Signature: ……………………………………………………………

Date: ………………………………………………………………..

OFFICIAL STUMP