President William Ruto on Thursday, April 30, expressed his disappointment in the Kalenjin nation over the low turnout in the voter registration exercise conducted by IEBC.

Speaking in Bomet at the burial of Transport CS Davis Chirchir’s father, Ruto broke away from the national languages and addressed mourners in Kalenjin to express his disappointment with his tribesmen.

He questioned why close to 2.3 million eligible voters from the region did not turn up to register as voters.

“We have 1.8 million Kalenjins here who have national ID cards but have not registered, and another 500,000 aged 18 and above who have not even taken IDs to enable them to register,” President Ruto lamented.

The Head of State told his tribesmen that they were giving him an uphill task to court Kenyans from other regions to fill up his vote basket ahead of 2022.

“You are giving me a tough job, struggling to seek support elsewhere while I have people back home. No. It should not be the case,” he stated.

He called on eligible voters to register as voters at the designated stations set aside by IEBC, despite the closing of the mass voter registration exercise.

An examination of the numbers reveals that the Rift Valley, as a region, recorded the highest number of voters, 671,958, in comparison to other regions.

However, an evaluation of the counties that have supported Ruto in the past, such as Uasin Gishu, Nandi, and Kericho, explains Ruto’s concern with the numbers.

IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon revealed that a total of 2.6 million new voters were enrolled in the voter register during the mass registration drive.

Ethekon revealed that registration was still ongoing at Huduma Centrea and IEBC constituency offices across the country.

The IEBC Chair explained that the Commission would not extend the mass voter enrollment due to budget constraints, but hinted at a second one at the end of the year or early 2027, if resources will be made available.