A section of voters lined up at Stream 02 at the Lugari Polling Station in Lugari Constituency couldn’t rest easy after a senior official of the IEBC slurred concerning the continuous failure of the Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) kit.
The elderly voters had raised complaints about the prolonged time used in voting when the official sent a jibe at them, saying that it is their “burning of charcoal” and “tilling land” that makes it hard for the kit to pick up their fingerprints.
“Many of you have burned charcoal and tilled the land so much that your fingerprints cannot be identified,” the officer said.
The statement came as an insult, or so they thought, to the voters who had been forced to spend a lot of time in the queue under the scorching sun waiting to vote.
“This official is making an insult of what we do to make a living, he doesn’t have respect. He is employed by the government and thinks his work is better than ours,” one woman could be heard complaining amid wrangles that went on for about 10 minutes.
There have been reports across the country on the failure of the kits, including a polling station in Matungu, Kakamega County, where voting had not begun by noon.
Polling stations in Lugari are experiencing a low voter turnout in the polls that kicked off today morning at 6 AM and are expected to end at 5 PM.
Sam Oduor is the founder and one of the editors at WKT. With a strong background in Communication and Journalism, Sam is an experienced digital media expert currently building a team of young professionals dedicated to telling the story of our community in a unique, authentic way.
