Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetangula has accused the Jubilee government of selectively issuing national identification documents in “politically correct areas” and turning away applicants in perceived opposition areas.
The Ford-Kenya leader claimed youths were being turned away under the pretext of lack of logistics.
“In
opposition areas they are saying there’s no money to issue young people
who have reached 18 years national IDs yet we know in some politically
correct areas they are being given. In other areas they are asking
ridiculous questions like title deeds,” Mr Wetangula said.
In an interview with the Nation,
Mr Wetangula also insisted that the Jubilee administration was planning
to use the digital registration of Kenyans to rig the 2017 General
Election.
DISMISS CLAIMS
He
said it was wrong for Jubilee administration to use the Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission or the Immigration Department to
collect data of Kenyans yet it is the work of the National Bureau of
Statistics done after every 10 years through national population census.
“Storage
of biometric data and registration of people is done by the National
Bureau of Statistics. What the government should do is to give Kenyans
IDs unconditional and those with old outdated ones have them replaced,”
Mr Wetangula said.
Mr Wetangula added that IEBC should
ensure continuous registration of voters. He regretted that one year
after last year’s polls, IEBC was yet to start registering voters.
National
Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale however dismissed Mr Wetangula's
claims saying the digital registration will go on whether the Coalition
for Reforms and Democracy wanted it or not.
At the same
time, Jubilee political strategist Moses Kuria denied Cord’s claims
that the exercise of registering Kenyans aged 12 years and above is a
plot to pre-rig the 2017 General Election.
“These
spurious claims expose the soft underbelly of the below par opposition.
It should be put in consideration that the situation of our national
registration documents deteriorated completely between 2008 and 2012
when ODM's Otieno Kajwang was in charge of the immigration ministry.
INSECURITY AS AN EXCUSE
“So
widespread were the irregularities under Mr Kajwang's watch that the
national registration database is beyond repair and it has to be
reconstituted afresh,” Mr Kuria said.
Mr Kuria said the fresh registration exercise is an effort to remedy “that era of Kajwang's errors.
On
Saturday, Cord leaders sparked allegations that the Jubilee
administration was planning to use the digital registration of Kenyans
to rig the 2017 General Election.
Acting ODM party
leader Anyang’ Nyong’o alleged that this would be done by merging the
new digital catalogue with the voters’ register.
Prof
Nyong’o said the government was using insecurity as an excuse to
register Kenyans afresh instead of addressing issues plaguing the
country.
Last week, Deputy President William Ruto met
with IEBC chairman Issack Hassan over possible amalgamation of the two
registers.
REGION PROFILE
But
IEBC later said that it would only offer technical advice to government
if invited to, and asserted it would not merge its register with any
other.
Commissioner Thomas Letangule said that IEBC’s
mandate is sealed by the Constitution and, therefore, does not extend to
the registration of persons.
On Saturday, Prof Nyong’o
said that the registration of persons first ought to be handled by the
relevant committees of the National Assembly and the Senate before the
process kicks off.
The ODM leader said that no
allocation had been made in the budget as announced by the DP. “We
suspect that this is a ploy by Jubilee to rig the next poll,” he said.
Kakamega
Senator Boni Khalwale and Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba said the process
would be unacceptable to Kenyans unless the demographic profile of each
region was taken into account.
Dr Khalwale said the
government had marginalised communities from western Kenya and asked the
region to unite irrespective of political party.
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