Kenyan rapper Henry Ohanga alias Octopizzo has partnered with the country’s electoral body with the aim of mobilizing young people to register as voters ahead of the fast-approaching August polls.
The celebrated artist, who also doubles up as an activist and youth ambassador, made a visit to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Wednesday to pledge his support for the exercise.
The Wafula Chebukati led commission appreciated the artist’s efforts in the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise targeting more young people who have been seen as dormant despite forming a majority of the electorate.
“Octopizo paid a courtesy call to the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and discussed areas of collaboration in voter education for the youth and enhancement of youth participation in the ongoing Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise,” the commission wrote in a statement.
In 2021, during the closure of the ECVR exercise, IEBC announced that it had registered 1.5 million new voters against an earlier target of 6 million.
The commission on January 17 hence kicked off the second and final phase of mass registration ahead of the August 9 elections.
With barely a week since its commencement, the commission has fallen short of its target of 4.5 million voters, netting only about 200,000 new voters.
Chebukati revealed that for the last 7 days, the commission registered 229,843 new voters against the weekly target of 1,493,569.
As voter apathy has been reported to be the main problem facing IEBC, Octopizzo seeks to aid the commission by leading youth to actively participate in the process which concludes on February 6.
