Kenyan women have been asked to deny their spouses sex if they fail to register as voters ahead of the general election slated for August.
Speaking in Mombasa, Coastal Kenya, on Sunday, Mombasa County Women Representative Mishi Mboko urged women across the country to withhold sex from men who are yet to acquire a voter’s card.
“Women, this is the strategy you should adopt. It is the best. Deny them sex until they show you their voter’s card,” Mboko said.
Efforts To Amass Votes
Kenyan political parties have embarked on a mission to encourage their supporters to enlist as voters as the country prepares for presidential elections.
In some regions, politicians are going door-to-door to mobilize people to get out and register as voters in a bid to increase votes in their strongholds, and some churches are reportedly vowing to stop congregants who are yet to register as voters from participating in the Holy Eucharist.
“You must go out, in every town, village, home, church, school, bus stop every day and not rest until everybody you meet is a registered voter,” Kenya’s main opposition leader Raila Odinga told his supporters on Monday.
Youth groups in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, have also launched a youth sensitization drive to encourage young people who are eligible to vote to register as voters.
The program, dubbed “#VijanaTutokelezee” or “young people should come out,” is aimed at ensuring more young people participate in the upcoming elections.
Political parties are also looking to tap in to the youth, which are 78 percent of the population, by encouraging those who have attained the legal age to go for national identity cards and register.
According to the Kenyan constitution, though, it is not mandatory for anyone to register as a voter or participate in elections.
Battle for Supremacy
With only seven months to the general election, Kenyans are bracing themselves for a heated political campaign period as the opposition seeks to unseat the current government.
Kenyan opposition leaders have announced their intention to come together to support one presidential candidate who will battle it out with the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kenyatta, whose government is facing serious allegations of corruption, has dismissed the opposition as a union of individuals who are hungry for power.
Still, the opposition is accusing the government of colluding with the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to rig the August elections.
The commission, whose new commissioners are yet to assume office, has denied these claims, though, saying it is prepared to hold a credible election.
Kenyan politicians have been asked to avoid making hateful remarks during the election period in order to prevent the raising of ethnic tensions that could take the country back to the post-election violence witnessed in the 2007 elections.
by Fredrick Ngugi
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