Elections matter yes, but that is only for those who actually vote. Young Kenyans, who are the majority of the population in our country and who have no voting cards are being double cheated because on one hand they have terrible and thieving political leaders whom they want to kick out but they have no voting cards to do that.
Those political leaders are not crying that young people cannot vote because they don’t trust that population group to be eager to keep them in power.
Elog raises alarm as voter registration lags far behind national target
The Elections Observation Group (ELOG) has raised concern over the slow pace of voter registration in the first week of the ongoing voter registration exercise, warning that the country risks falling short of its six-million voter target if the current trend continues.
In its statement released on Wednesday, Elog said data from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shows that only 7,048 new voters were registered across the country in the first week, representing just 0.11 per cent of the national target of 6.3 million new voters.
“If evenly distributed across the four-week period, this pace would represent less than one per cent of the required weekly average,” the group observed.
The one thing the opposition politicians have no clue about is how to focus the attention of the country on important things for the future of the country like voter registration. They will make their media gimmick statements and scream in those X accounts about voter registration, but they have no idea how to mobilize the nation to get to the Registration Centres meeting their targets.
If our country is serious about voter registration it is an area where government needs to work with the opposition groups to come up with new workable plans to improve voter registration. They all need votes and quite frankly nobody knows who those new voters, young and old Kenyans will vote for. Just let people have the opportunity to vote by having that card and they may surprise a lot of political leaders who think they own the Gen Z population in Kenya. They could be surprised who those people will actually vote for, but they need to able to vote and that is what is important.
So far Kenya’s Generation Z movements are taking voter mobilisation into their own hands, launching a bold social media campaign under the trending hashtag #SabuniSabuni like they did in the June 25, 2025 freedom campaigns.
According to media reports, the Generation Z movement aims to rally young people to register as voters ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Through memes, witty banter, and viral posts, young people are challenging each other to take responsibility for their future by showing up at registration centers.
Popular memes circulating online include messages like “Don’t call me for favours if you haven’t registered as a voter” and “Guza jirani na umuulize kama amerigester” a playful nudge for peers to check on their neighbors’ registration status.
The phrase “Sabuni Sabuni” literally “soap” in Swahili symbolizes cleansing Kenya’s political system of corruption and broken promises.
The campaign draws inspiration from recent youth-led protests and activism, urging a shift from street demonstrations to the ballot box as a more powerful tool for change.
With Kenya’s youth making up the largest voting bloc, Gen Z hopes their collective action will tip the scales in the next election.
As one online post put it: “2027 is not about watching. It’s about washing.”
SirJohnKE said “Here we are, register now. #SabuniSabuni.”
Another X user, Rami’rez Nelly said “register as voters and spearhead the change your mind has been yearning for Gen Z’s, it is our time to shine. #SabuniSabuni.”
Friedrich added “There are 10 million Gen Zs out there that are eligible for voter registration. Register today and your long cry to get president Ruto out of office will come to an end in 2027. #SabuniSabuni,” he said.
Kachampez said the only campaign for now as youths is to push for mass voter registration.
I am Chege said “#SabuniSabuni. Register as a voter, safisha nchi. Carry your ID or your passport and register today.”
Yoko Ndegwah said “Kura yako ni silaha pia. Chukua kura tuangamize viongozi wafisadi. #SabuniSabuni.”
What is happening on the ground for voter registration?
Voter registration in Kenya has always been very difficult. My first ever job in life was doing voter registration as high school teenager. We were located close to the then sub-chief office under some tree. Maybe three or four people came per day to register on a busy day.
Right now there are voter registration centres in every constituency but they are very far from where the voters live or work. In most cases someone will have to spend a whole day travelling to the centres and back to their homes. That means majority of those unregistered voters in Kenya are not going to register and come 2027 there will be millions of Kenyans who should have voting cards not having any.
IEBC says they have oppened all registration offices and there are many Kenyans who don’t even know where those offices are located. It could help if the IEBC provides list of registration centres in every constituency and that information should be available and IEBC could also have posters of registration offices in public places so the public gets to know where to go and register.
Kenyan politicians are not going to do anything to fix the voter registration system. They will keep yelling about why it is so important for all those who can vote to get cards but have no concrete plans or ideas on how that can happen in a way that makes access to registration centres realistic for Kenyans.
The truth is that for young Kenyans their biggest problem is that there are millions of them old enough to vote, but they do not even have ID Cards to allow them to get voting cards. Getting an ID card in Kenya is a tedious spectacle. You go to the government office in your area and the first thing they need to start the process is for you to provide your Birth Certificate. If you don’t have that then your first job will be to go look for it. Just getting Birth Certificate could take 2 months or more, then if you are lucky to get that you go for the ID application and wait a few more months to get it.
Those young Kenyans are not going to run all over the place to get a Birth Certificate, then go looking for the ID registration places and wait for months to get their IDs. All these just means that a big chunk of the young voters are going to attend rallies and confront the government when they have to but the process of getting a voting card is just too complicated and impossible for most of them.
Kenya is going to end up with a situation where by August 2027 election time there more than 10 million eligible to vote who have no voting cards.
There are two things that should be done right now to make the voter registration useful in helping Kenyans vote to choose the people they want to run their government, and it starts with getting ID Cards for all those who need them.
In most countries children get birth certificate right after being born and the hospitals issue that not some government workers. With that Birth Certificate kids get their national IDs just in the first year of birth. Can anybody imagine how a plan like that would benefit Kenyans not just in voting but in getting jobs and going to school when all you have all your documents.
The Kenya government must help Kenyans get their ID Cards and the first thing required is to have ID applications sorted out in one week and people can pick up their IDs two weeks after applying. That will be a good step to speed up the whole process and helping Kenyans go for their voting cards without waiting for months to get their ID Cards.
The other important thing after the ID business is sorted out is where to register to vote. Nobody is going to spend a whole lot of time and money travelling to get somewhere to register. The government today needs to work with the opposition leaders to make it easy for people to get that voting card because every politician running for a seat needs votes and it is not just for the opposition. Even President William Ruto and his political alliances need to get voters to be registered.
Kenyans have to understand that someone like President Ruto is going to have a network for voter registration particularly in areas where they have good support. The government is going to get the Chiefs and Sub-Chiefs to rally those unregistered to have their voting cards and they will have the resources to do that very effectively.
The opposition loud mouths will on the other hand be yelling at rallies and fighting their imaginary enemies like Raila Odinga as if that will get their voters to register. That is okay for them but without votes they are going nowhere. Maybe that is what is good for them and for the country.
It also would be more sensible and effective if voter registration offices are set up in every market place all across the country. The idea should be to bring IEBC voter registration in places where Kenyans already gather for activities of daily living. Don’t have these voting officers hidden in remote places where nobody goes. Bring the voter registration process to places where Kenyans are doing business already
Every University College in Kenya should have IEBC voter registration going on at the campus. There are thousands of students in every campus on any day and it would be great if the registration is done in such places and Kenyans will register without any problems. In some big universities IEBC may even need to have more than one voting registration centre. Then do the same with high schools in Kenya students will have access as well as those who live near such schools.
If you look at Nairobi University IEBC will need registration in the main campus in Nairobi, another in Kabete and also one in Chiromo campuses. In short, the IEBC needs to come with new ways of helping Kenyans to register to vote by making the registration centres easily accessible to people doing their daily things in life.
Politicians are now screaming at Kenyans to go get the cards and that will not help at all unless the situation for better voter registration is established on the ground.
As the registration of voters looks weak and doomed to fail big time with marginal numbers of new voters coming into the voting pool and that is a disaster for the country.
The politicians are busy doing their own imaginary voter mobilization including those referring to Gen Z potential voters as partyless and have no direction. It is the same politicians who have been unable to create the conditions to get new voters into the system.
Gachagua: Presidency not won by social media photos
“Getting elected as President is about political mobilisation. Many people may want to spend a lot of time in hotels and boardrooms discussing theories. I am a very experienced politician who has delivered two Presidents for this country, and I know how to make a president. There is no President you will make in a boardroom,” Gachagua said.
He emphasised that political leaders must connect directly with the electorate, inspiring and mobilising them consistently over time.
According to the ex-DP, voters remember leaders who engage with them meaningfully, not those who rely on optics or social media impressions.
“Presidents are made in the field. We are from the grassroots, and you must go and mobilise people and inspire them. You must have content, and people must remember what you say even a month later. That is how you become president,” he shared.
The DCP leader took issue with individuals he described as being overly reliant on digital platforms, suggesting that posting pictures of politicians online does not translate into national leadership.
“You know, I see people talking a lot, as if by just posting someone’s picture on social media, they can become president. They’re even saying ‘the sixth.’ That cannot make you president. You must go there, mobilise numbers, and inspire the people of Kenya. The relevance of online space is to inform the people where you are on the ground,” Gachagua stated.
The one thing Gachagua does not talk about is that all politicians today including himself, have their X account as their biggest political platform. They post pictures of themselves all day long and talking to themselves most of the time.
One thing Kenyans will realize the hard away is that there are millions of people in our country today whose only vote is that nasty comment online whenever they read something from the politicians they don’t like. If people would vote on their keyboards and send the vote online several more million votes with be in there on election day.
Leaderless, partyless, voteless: Kuria calls out Gen Z
In a statement last week, Moses Kuria noted that despite being vocal on social and political issues, many members of Generation Z were not translating their activism into voter registration.
“Gen Z are not registering as voters. From leaderless, partyless, formless to voteless. Nice!” Kuria remarked.
As voter the registration mess goes on someone like Fred Matiang’i thinks that opposition politicians just need to show their dance moves to the Kenyan youth who like dancing they suppose, and you have their votes even though they have no voting cards.
Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has called on young Kenyans to actively engage in shaping the country’s future, following a consultative meeting with youth leaders in Nakuru Town.
In a tweet shared after the event on Friday, Matiang’i expressed optimism about Kenya’s prospects, emphasising the need to listen to the younger generation’s ideas and aspirations.
“The session reaffirmed my belief in the potential of the youth to spearhead positive changes and address the failures of the present,” he said.
Kenyan opposition leaders as always has no new ideas on how to make the voter registration achieve its objectives of getting new voters into the registry, mainly young Kenyans.
Someone just told Kenyans that in every democracy, the opposition is not a noisy choir. It is the government-in-waiting, the conscience of the republic, the watchdog of power.
That is fair enough but for the opposition in Kenya today their primary job as Kenyans have seen is to yell about Wantam and they seem to think that is all Kenyans voters need to hear from them.
When they are exhausted with their Ruto noise then they attack Raila Odinga and accuse him of dying to go to heaven before they make it, never mind many of them will end up in hell to meet Obel Sibuth (president in the hell world) who is in charge in that place and they should not worry about Raila taking too much space in heaven because they are headed the other direction.
Someone like Rigathi Gachagua may try to overthrow the big Satan in Hell House when he ends up there, but he may get impeached there if he tries too hard. For now, Gachagua just needs to be buying shares so he can be a real shareholder in the Satan world. To get shares in the Satan world you have to do a lot of harm and damage down to people here on earth.
Gachagua on his part is doing that very well and has been doing it since he was President Moi’s, DO in Molo, where he got more than 5,000 Kenyans in 1992 when Moi was furious that the Kikuyus down there did not vote for him. Gachagua did the job for Moi eliminating Kikuyus in Molo. As we know getting people killed here on earth gets you a lot of shares in hell and Gachagua has that worked out already.
Gachagua should just do that quietly before even the big Satan gets worried that if that man ends in his big house he may try to be the leader there and replace Obel Sibuth. That will not be tolerated at all in that place. Good luck for Gachagua with that plan.
