The efforts by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to ensure that every voter is registered through the biometric technology system deserve support from everyone, rather than being politicized.
The commission is currently conducting nationwide voter registration, with awareness campaigns being promoted by various stakeholders to ensure young people register.
However, IEBC’s announcement that voters who registered before the 2012 election and whose details were not captured biometrically has sparked strong reactions from politicians.
From the start, every Kenyan has the right to verify their details with IEBC to know whether they are eligible to vote or not.
Shouting online and linking the IEBC announcement to vote rigging will not help, because without biometric identification, one will not be able to vote in the next election.
Therefore, those opposing IEBC online should do so, and those supporting it can do the same, but the imperative remains: register to vote or verify that you are eligible.
Good or bad leadership is placed or removed through votes. Therefore, Gen-Z youth should register and determine the direction of their country themselves, rather than relying on older politicians.
Secondly, the voter register must be cleaned to ensure that only those who have registered participate in elections, and that votes are counted fairly.
Apart from the 2002 election, other elections held since the start of the multi-party system have faced questions about transparency.
There have been protests, property destruction, and disasters after elections, with the losers often claiming that their votes were stolen.
It is through an open voter register that the “dead” can be excluded before voting, preventing one candidate from benefiting unfairly even without significant popularity.
Some leaders in other parts of the country have claimed to take pride in receiving widespread support, yet the real numbers are confirmed by IEBC’s data.
The real basis of high or low voter numbers lies in the statistics eventually released by IEBC, which will confirm whether these political claims have any merit.
If they have been boasting of votes from the “dead,” then they are mistaken, because the voter register should only include living residents, eliminating potential fraud.
What leaders should do if they want to remain in power—or what those seeking government positions must do—is to conduct campaigns to ensure their supporters register and verify their details with IEBC.
This is the time to achieve the highest possible number of registered voters, ensuring that many are properly registered so that they can vote and decide the 2027 elections.
The truth is that voter registration is part of securing early electoral advantage. The next responsibility is ensuring that registered voters turn out and participate in the constitutional exercise.
For the youth whose votes politicians seek, now is the time to ensure you are “on the card” if you want change in the country.
Understand that protests and demonstrations alone do not drive change; rather, placing hardworking leaders in positions of power is what will bring results.
Kenya’s politics has been influenced by ethnicity, and if young people fail to monitor politicians, some leaders will hijack their resolutions for personal gain.
The current message is clear: we all need to register to vote, because this will either maintain the current leadership or remove it—not online hate speech or insults.
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