Residents in Bunyala West ward, in Busia county were motivated to participate in the voter registration exercise by every person who registers getting two tits of maize.
This initiative which was launched by a local businessman in the area called Mark Njogu, saw more than 400 residents turn up to register.
The villagers in the ward claimed that they would not have registered were it not for the maize incentive.
Mr Njogu came up with the idea to encourage locals to register as voters in the nationwide exercise that ends today Tuesday 15th March.
Gabriel Waswa who is a polling clerk at the Bunyala West centre said that the move was taken in order to motivate the people from the region to register as they were just sitting as if no activity was taking place.
“I had so far registered 260 people in seven centres across the ward since the exercise began on February 15th and the numbers rose to 400 by the close of the registration period largely because of the maize incentive,” he said.
Njogu said that he decided to use the method after he realized that the exercise would be a total failure in his home area due low turn up of residents from the area.
“I consulted with the registration clerks and they told me that only one or two people register in a day. This disturbed me, making me to think of a way to help save the exercise,” he said.
He went on saying that he decided to use the method from the fact that ugali is a stable food to the Luhyas thus giving out maize would motivate them accordingly.
He added that he compromised giving out maize over preparing meal at the centre as it would be too tedious and time wasting.
“I remembered that we Luhyas love food and I thought of making a meal at the registration centre, but it would have been tedious. It is then that I resorted to giving maize to everyone who registers.” he said.
The maize initiayive exercise has been on for four days now and villagers are keen to collect the very important voting documents.
According to Saleh Okumu who hails from Lusumu Sub-location in the same ward, the incentive was a good idea and it was the reason as to why he registered.
“I am seeing this happen for the first time since I began registering as a voter in this village in the early 1990s. I have got the tins of maize and I will vote in August next year,” he said after having been registered.
However the residents refuted claims that they will also need more incentives to vote come 2017 citing that they will vote without any influence as much as they have acquired the registration cards.
“I believe registering is a big deal. When time for voting comes I will have gathered enough momentum to vote without any influence,” said Janet Munyoso, a voter in the ward.
She added that the reasons behind them not being registered was due to the fact that the polling centres have been set at long distances hence they have to work for a long time.
“We din’t register because the centres are far, but when good things like maize come by, we can brave the distance and go to register,” she said.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is set to end the one month exercise today on 15TH despite low voter turnout all over the country.
Cries by the political leaders and Kenyans to the IEBC to extend the exercise were rejected as the commission said that it has no enough funds to run the exercise.
