President William Ruto spoke to the apparent political apathy in his backyard of the Rift Valley on 30th April, noting that his fellow natives had not come out in their numbers to enlist as voters in the recent phases of continous voter registration, the latest having closed Thursday, April 30.
He relayed his concerns while speaking at the funeral of Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary David Kipchirchir’s father in Bomet.
Speaking in the Kalenjin vernacular, the president expressed concerns on the lack of Kalenjins to enlist as voters ahead of the next year’s elections, despite many being eligible by virtue of attaining the minimum voting age of18 years.
The head of State observed that hundreds of thousands from his backyard were yet to seek national identity cards, a reality that may see a huge constituency locked out of voting next year.
“Allow me to say one thing. You know it’s rare for me to speak in Kalenjin in a big event such as this that brings together people from diverse backgrounds. Are you aware about the direction we are going and my rally to bring the people together ahead of a huge task? Why are you humiliating me? We have about half a million young people from this region who are yet to register for IDs despite clocking 18 years,” he said.
Ruto further expressed worries of over 2.3 million eligible voters missing the ballot next year. He pleaded with the Rift Valley electorate to act, noting that he has worked hard in serving them.
The president, in a bid to appeal to the youth to get their citizen documents, and subsequently enlist as voters, said it would be of no good display if he went across the country to court support yet his own backyard is lagging in numbers.
“Why should I be going around looking for votes when you haven’t registered? You can’t accuse me if letting you down. I have been working. I am kneeling down, being humble elsewhere yet you are letting me down. We have 1.8m Kalenjins with ID cards but without voters cards. We have 2.3m kalenjins total who can’t vote,” he said.
