The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has launched a nationwide mass voter registration exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections marking a critical step in the country democratic process.
The commission urged eligible citizens to register in large numbers saying voter participation remains a constitutional right and a cornerstone of democratic governance. Political stakeholders including Democratic Party have also encouraged Kenyans to take part noting that voter registration directly shapes leadership and government of choice.
The registration exercise comes amid renewed attention to findings from a 2022 audit conducted by KPMG on the voter register.
Audit findings raise concerns
According to the audit report the register contained significant irregularities including 481,711 duplicate records and 226,143 voters registered using identification documents that did not belong to them. Additionally 246,465 records of deceased voters were identified alongside 164,269 registrations linked to invalid identification documents such as IDs and passports.
The audit further revealed systemic vulnerabilities within the electoral system. Fourteen unauthorized returning officers were found to have access to the system despite not being officially gazetted. These individuals reportedly had the ability to manipulate the voter register including transferring deleting inserting and updating records.
KPMG also identified that a user account labeled Postgress had superuser privileges raising concerns about system security and oversight.
The audit indicated that the unauthorized officers operated alongside 290 officially recognized constituency officers. It also found the existence of 513 generic accounts within the Integrated Database Management System compared to only nine legitimate accounts.
Further scrutiny showed that the digital voter register may have included over 2 million questionable entries arising from duplicate registrations or use of fraudulent documents. Auditors also noted anomalies during the register cleanup process where new voters appeared to have been added unexpectedly.
Additionally the system lacked safeguards to automatically deactivate inactive accounts after 90 days contrary to IEBC policy potentially allowing former staff to retain access to sensitive systems.
The total records within the Smartmatic register of voters provided to KPMG on 5 May 2022 stood at 21,970,597 including all biographic and biometric details. After a deduplication process the final register stood at 21,710,728 voters.
Experts and stakeholders are now calling for a fresh comprehensive audit of the voter register. They have also urged closer collaboration between IEBC National Civil Registration Bureau and Immigration Services to verify voter identities and documentation.
As the registration exercise continues observers say restoring public trust in the electoral system will be critical ahead of the 2027 polls ensuring transparency data integrity and accountability.
