Gov’t Sets New Voter Registration Date, Funds Made Available

The new Voter Registration date has been set for March 10th after the government has made available funds for the exercise this week.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Fred Fakarii said the availability of funds will now enable the process to start as soon as all necessary materials are organized for field officials who will carry out the work.

The voter registration process will take 40 days to complete as required by law and the Government is confident that the process will be completed on time.

“Money is not an issue now; we have got the money to run the elections. Only print work on papers like maps and movement plans in constituencies are yet to be completed and as soon as those materials are completed work will kick off,” Mr Fakarii.

During the registration process, field officials will be deployed throughout entire constituencies during the 40 days period to collect data. More than 800 registration centers have been identified and established throughout the country for the exercise.

“I want to assure the public that we still have time to carry out the registration process. We will start on the 10th of March and will complete the process on the 17th of April,” Mr Fakarii said.

Other processes which include compilation and classification of data will continue throughout the year and the final Register is expected by August 24 prior to the 2014 National election.

On elections, Mr Fakarii said preparations will start early as expected as the government does not anticipate any difficulties during the preparation process.

“I would like to assure people who might have doubts that we will deliver the results and programs as required by our law and with the help of others in different areas we are confident that we will produce the results as expected on time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Fakarii encourages eligible voters to actively participate in the registration process to enable them take part in this year’s election.

“All I want to say to our people is to come out, take advantage of the situation and register yourself so that you can be issued with a registration card for voting. We are happy that everyone is looking forward for the process,” Mr Fakarii said.

The newly introduced biometric registration system will be use for the first time this year in our election history.

ENDS

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