Civic education
The Keiyo North IEBC Returning Officer Nobert Kemei has hailed St. Patricks high school Iten for involving the commission in its student council election saying this was one way of imparting voter education to children from an early age.
Kemei said the commission was riding on such an exercise to ensure the youth involve themselves in the electoral process so that in future elections they will participate fully. The RO said St. Patricks being a national school provided a good platform saying since the school draws students from all the 47 counties, they will go back home and impart the voter knowledge to their families and communities.
The school principal said the exercise was started to mentor the students to understand and know how to exercise their democratic rights adding that they were given a chance to campaign for the various positions they were vying for. “The campaign will help the students to know how to express themselves in future if they are interested in seeking elective posts,” he said.
The principal said they endeavoured to ensure that the exercise mirrored the real election saying each student was required to have a voters card before they could be allowed to vote with the IEBC arranging for the polling centres and boxes. He added that they had decentralised the elections whereby each class that is form one, two and three were electing their own leaders to manage their affairs for the next one year.
Keith Mutai who was vying for the boarding captain welcomed the move given that soon they will be choosing their own leaders while Hillary Oyoo said they were being trained for future leadership for a better country.