A number of Tanzanian women married in Migori County may fail to participate in the forthcoming August 9, general election.
County Woman Representative Dr Pamela Odhiambo has decried the tough measures imposed on the women by the office of Registrar of Persons in the area before they can be issued with identity cards.
According to Dr Odhiambo, the Registrar has been turning away the women, and asking them to present their birth certificates, among other documents from their home country.
But Dr Odhiambo feels this is unnecessary as the women have proof of marriage in Kenya, and should be swiftly issued with identity cards and registered as voters.
Many of the women cannot trace some of the required documents, and mostly sit back when turned away.
And with the mass voter registration period fast elapsing, there are fears that these women may be left out of the August 9, polls.
“These are complicated administrative procedures. These people have been counted in Kenya as Kenyans during national census, and should not be subjected to this kind of discrimination,” she said.
The most affected areas, she said, are Kuria, Nyatike and Suna, which border Tanzania, and has reported a lot of cases of intermarriages.
Dr Odhiambo who was speaking in Ururu during voter registration campaign argued that citizenship can be acquired through marriage.
“By this virtue, these women are Kenyan citizens by marriage and therefore they have a right to participate in every election exercise,” she added.
Dr Odhiambo who is eying Migori Gubernatorial seat on an ODM Party ticket urged the government to intervene and have the women get justice so that they participate in the forthcoming election.