Nairobi May 28th 2016. UNDP’s support to the elections cycle in Kenya is through the Strengthening the Electoral Processes in Kenya programme, of which one component is working with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Through this support UNDP offered to support the voter registration exercise.
The Voter registration process is a continuous activity, nonetheless the Elections Operations plan envisioned two targeted mass voter registration campaigns, one in 2016 and the other in 2017. The aim of these campaigns is to register over 8 Million new voters in preparation for the 2017 elections, a majority of whom are the youth. In January 2016 the IEBC was at an advance stage of planning for the roll out of the MVR Phase I including with support from UNDP. As per the project, UNDP, was to facilitate the mobilization by IEBC of an extra 2,878 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits across the Country in order for the total number of BVRs provided by IEBC for this exercise to be 5,756. This mobilization of extra kits therefore was strategic in view of reaching as many youths as possible within the target of 4 Million for this period. Mobilization of BVRs therefore required the recruitment and remuneration of a total of 3,168 voter registration assistants.
In line with contracting arrangements, VRAs are required to submit copies of their contract, worksheet, National Health Insurance Fund card and National Social Security Fund card to the IEBC for verification, together with valid bank account or M-Pesa details, after which payment is disbursed. Some of the VRAs did not provide this information on time and therefore this resulted in delayed processing of their payment. This has however been addressed and UNDP Kenya and the IEBC are working with all VRAs to ensure expedited payment for services rendered.
MinBane 