The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) on Tuesday, May 31, marked six counties as likely to be prone to poll-related violence in the run-up to the elections on August 9.

Nairobi, Nakuru, Kericho, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu, and Mombasa were mentioned as high-risk counties in the report released by the commission owing to factors such as crime rate as well as the probability of conflict from ethnic inequality on a study conducted by the commission, which sought real-time status reports, conflict context, and environmental scans across Kenya's 47 counties.

"Six counties recorded an inflated vulnerability for electoral violence in the upcoming General Elections.  The major impending threat being pre-existing conflicts around issues of inequalities in the distribution of resources, high population density in informal settlements, and infiltration of organized criminal gangs and groups,” the report says.

According to the NCIC, the country's national electoral violence index for 2022 currently stands at 53.43 percent, with 31 counties expected to hold peaceful elections.

The commission classified Narok, Marsabit, Laikipia, Lamu, Baring, Isiolo, Meru, Nandi, Samburu, and Bomet as medium high-risk counties while the county with the lowest risk of poll-related violence is Embu.

As a result of this study's findings, the commission established that the violence in this particular election may be caused by the lack of trust in the agencies tasked with the delivery of credible elections, such as the DCI, IEBC, EACC, CAK among others.

The NCIC recommends multi-sectoral collaboration among agencies in a bid to curb the eruption of violence by aiding in democracy protection by agencies such as ODPP, inclusion and transparency by the electoral commission and the EACC to safeguard the use of public resources, as well as sensitive reporting by the CAK.

Agencies in attendance at the press briefing were in agreement to uphold peace and credibility during the polls.