EDK, IIEC, IEBC: Same Problems with a Face-Lift?

On Saturday, 19th July, 2025, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) released a statement, stating its priority areas, which included voter registration and a host of proposed legal reforms. The statement stated that IEBC had submitted several legislative proposals to the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly and the Senate Standing Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Among the list of reviewed regulations was the Election (Voter Registration) Regulations, 2012. 

Among the floated proposals reported is the scrapping of the voters' card, and that the possession of the national ID or passport would suffice for voting. The proposal has been rationalised by the cost implications that it amasses, when weighed against its need in a digitised system of operations. The Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) is seen as a complete replacement of the need for voter cards, as registration and verification of voters during elections is done electronically through the system. 

This has sparked a lot of dialogue, mostly leaning towards how unreliable the KIEMS kit has proved in previous election cycles, for full trust to be placed in them entirely. During the 2022 general elections, the KIEMS kits failed in different parts of the country, with challenges ranging from the kits failing to recognise voters’ fingerprints to them not being able to power on completely. This led many polling stations across the country to resort to manual registers. Embakasi East is one of the constituencies that were mired with challenges of the KIEMS kits, as several polling stations had to use manual registers for the verification of voters. There were also remote places in the country with weak connectivity where the kits could not be operated effectively. 

This situation raised a lot of concerns from several high-profile politicians who questioned the system’s credibility, leading to tension in the country and plummeted public trust in the process. Unfortunately, this was no different from 2013, when Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits were used for voter registration and Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVIDs) were used in voter identification during the election, as only 40% of the machines worked during elections, the ramifications being, tension and waning public trust in the process and the new-look electoral body, IEBC.

In an ostensible cycle of history repeating itself, Kenya has been no stranger to tensions and mistrust during election periods. Whether it is concerns surrounding the issuance of national Identification (ID) cards efficiently and in fairness, or questions raised on the process of registration of voters, we seem to have a reference point in the theatre of history. 

In the lead-up to the 1997 general elections in Kenya, following the Inter-Party Parliamentary Group (IPPG) discussions and concessions, the government settled to issue new model ID cards that would thereafter be key in the issuance of voters' cards. This meant that for the young voters who had just attained the majority age, the step to facilitate their voting was a two-step process: the process for issuance of an ID card, then the voter registration process – all this, within the prescribed voter registration timelines. It therefore did not come as a surprise that the voter registration process proved futile to some of the young people then, as it was reported that hundreds of thousands of young people who had reached the voting age could not register as voters as they did not receive their ID cards before the window closed. The new-lift Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) then accrued a trust debt by virtue of that. The voter registration process, consequently, fell below the expected mark – a common rhetoric. Among the notable issues was that the voter registration sites ran out of application forms, and that some cards were issued with errors.

In a statement released by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on the 29th December 1997, they said that the total number of registered voters for the elections (the figure stood at 9,063,390) could have been higher given adequate and more timely and coherent administrative reforms to the registration process. NDI noted that significant challenges tethered down the voter registration process, including confusion as to which identity cards were acceptable, and the slow issuance of identity cards to persons turning 18 years of age. They also noted that there was widespread dissatisfaction with how ECK handled the voter registration process and its compounding effect on the day of elections.

Different electoral bodies in Kenya, from ECK, IIEC, to IEBC, have had a topsy-turvy trust relationship with the public. This has been a result of several issues, including election irregularities that further tumbled public trust. 

Trust has been elusive for the electoral bodies, and the taxpayer has had to pay dearly as every electoral cycle has grown to be more expensive than the previous one. The 2017 general elections in Kenya cost around Kshs. 3200 per voter, making it the most expensive election in Africa, and the second-most expensive election in the world. The 2027 elections have been projected to be the most expensive election yet in the country’s history (and one would imagine the world), with a budget of Ksh. 61.7 billion proposed, which is Kshs. 19 billion more than the 2022 general elections. All this, when the  Average Cost per Registered Voter Index (ACRVI) benchmark of five dollars (Ksh 645) per voter.

Why? One would ask.

It is not that we have digitised our systems like Estonia has, where they have had electronic voting since 2005. It is that the IEBC has spent billions in previous electoral cycles, trying to “buy” public trust and reassurance. It is that, among a host of other things, a lot of money has been used trying to purchase and install technologies that would mirror credibility; from BVR kits, EVIDs, KIEMS kits to turning simple ballot papers into documents fortified with numerous security features. Yet this very public trust has remained fleeting for IEBC.

The new commission comes into place in an era of eroded trust in public institutions. Each electoral cycle comes with tension and is further laden with the baggage of previous failures of electronic systems that have proved unreliable, especially on the material day. Unfortunately, for a process as grand and with personal and collective importance as the elections, the reality that the process has been credible does not suffice; the perception should also be indicative of so.

One then wonders, would the scraping off voters’ cards restore faith, or would it be another accrual of trust debt? A debt that is already off the charts. What should the IEBC do? What should parliament, media actors, academia, the civil society do? 

Rebuilding public trust in our elections will take a united front between all actors. The IEBC must take charge with absolute transparency in opening up its processes for public input and scrutiny. From continuous voter registration efforts, the by-elections that are due to be held, to the final transmission of results, come 2027, Kenyans should be partners in the process, not mere spectators. Release of information to the public should also be proactive, and the commission should not be playing catch-up after foreshadowed concerns have been raised. There should also be comprehensive voter education and public awareness campaigns running throughout the period.

Still, IEBC cannot do this alone. Parliament plays a critical role in ensuring that the proposals made by the commission and shared with the different parliamentary committees are codified into law, and within the stipulated time frame. In doing so, Parliament must ensure that there is meaningful public participation in the process. The civil society, on the other hand, has a role to facilitate dialogues, campaigns and forums that educate the public on electoral processes, scrutinise and generate empirical suggestions and proposals on the different electoral reforms, and be fair auditors of electoral processes and outcomes, ensuring transparent review.

With goodwill from all the actors involved, elections in Kenya can be turned from being an expensive, tension-drapped spectacle into a moment and period of collective pride as a country. The task ahead is simple: free, fair, transparent and credible elections.

Posted by Jimmy Gitonga on Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:  election   Electoral Transparency