Mr Mwai Kibaki's call to extend the voter registration period deserves the Electoral Commission's consideration.

Indeed, it is the prudent thing to do, given the widespread concerns expressed over the interlinked issues of identity cards for young people and the voter registration.

The last thing that the commission needs at this crucial time is mud attached to its name. The leader of the Official Opposition argues that the one-month exercise in February will disenfranchise millions of potential voters. He is absolutely right.

The complaints are piling up, from virtually every part of the country, about youth who have already turned 18 but are unable to get identity cards. 

To close the voter's roll within a month will mean denying young people one of the most basic rights in a democracy, this despite the fact that they have no control over the bureaucracy surrounding the issue of identity cards.

Indeed, there have been repeated calls that voter registration be continuous. Young Kenyans are turning 18 every day and, in these days of advanced information technology, there should be no difficulty recording the data.

With about three million youngsters said to be awaiting national registration just months to the General Election, the Government would be expected to move urgently to resolve the bottlenecks to issue identity cards smoothly.

Yet the exercise has perennially been hit by shortages of vital supplies – and even corruption by the registration clerks, if Mr Kibaki is to be believed.

This is certainly not the kind of publicity the Government needs ahead of elections, especially in the light of accusations that the hitches in processing national registration might be part of a grand plan to shut out voters in some parts of the country.

The most disquieting thing about the whole debate is its predictable nature. Year in and year out, young people find their lives threatened by the lack of identity cards. They cannot open bank accounts, for example.

This need not be the case. All that is required of the department responsible is efficiency and a modicum of respect for the rights of this country's citizens.