Wetangula offers Ksh.1M award to Bungoma chief who tops in ID & voter registration

Speaking during a meeting with political leaders and administrators from Bungoma County, Wetangula urged them to take advantage of President William Ruto's order exempting National ID applicants from vetting to boost the registration drive. 

In February 2025, President Ruto signed the Presidential Proclamation on Registration and Issuance of IDs to Border Counties to ease the process of acquiring the critical document. 

For years, residents in the northeastern region were required to undergo extra vetting before acquiring birth certificates and national identity cards. 

During the meeting, Wetangula reminded the leaders that the presidential order did not only affect the North Eastern region but impacted many of the border counties and towns. 

Further, the Speaker questioned why Bungoma, the third-most populated county in Kenya, had only registered around 600,000 voters in the 2022 General Election. 

He noted that the county's population should be in line with the voter registration. According to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Bungoma County has a population of 1.6 million people. 

He announced a competition to boost the ID and voter registration drive, citing that the chiefs who lead in the contest by mid next year will be given Ksh.1 million. 

"Bungoma is the third largest county in Kenya behind Nairobi and Kakamega. But when you look at registered voters you find Nakuru has 1 million, Kiambu has 1.2 million, Nairobi around 3 million, Bungoma is still in the 600,000 mark... how will we be taken seriously?" he posed. 

"I want to raise something for you chiefs, I'll start a competition among the locations based on the numbers you have. By mid-next year, the chief and his assistant who will have recorded the highest number of ID and voters cards, I'll give them Ksh.1 million."

The Speaker also encouraged the leaders to step up campaigns for the residents to register for the Social Health Authority (SHA) to benefit from the program's cover.