Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

There is an erroneous perception that new voters are not eligible to sign up with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) unless and until commissioners have been appointed and installed. The truth, however, is that any citizen with a national identity card can walk into any IEBC office in any corner of the country and register as a voter.

It is important to share this information given that there appears to be a deliberate attempt to delay the reconstitution of the electoral commission. The upshot of this is that once commissioners are appointed, there will be insufficient time for new voters to sign up because IEBC will be under pressure to put in place other measures to ensure a credible election in 2027.

For as long as new voters are denied information that they can register at any time, there is a danger that the large number of prospective Gen Z voters will be disenfranchised. This is a prospect too dire to contemplate given that they are itching to make their voices heard through the ballot.

The IEBC secretariat, therefore, owes it to Gen Z to educate them that they are free to sign up as voters at their nearest office as early as yesterday. However, it is also important to get them to register in an area they intend to vote in to avoid the trend of voters failing to fulfil their civic duty because they did not think through their choices, particularly on where they intend to vote.

In the last election, over seven million registered voters failed to cast their ballots. Some registered in urban areas but travelled upcountry “for fear of electoral violence” on the eve of the polls, while a large number failed to vote because they were disillusioned with the candidates who presented themselves, especially for the presidency.

This is another area where prospective Gen Z voters need to be educated. All six elective positions are critical for the overall development of the country. Members of county assemblies are as important in the governance matrix as are senators, governors and other elective positions. This is because they directly affect the prospects of development in the smallest governance unit, the ward. The nation, being a collection of wards, cannot develop unless voters wise up and demand good governance at that level too.

Equally important, Gen Z who are keen about bringing change should also be educated to present themselves for various positions, including MCA. They can borrow a leaf from former US President Barack Obama, who moved from being a grassroots community mobiliser to a junior senator to senator and eventually US president. His story should serve as an inspiration that one does not have to introduce change from the top. Rather, one can grow from the grassroots up, learning the ropes at every stage.

Historically, in Kenya, politicians who ascend to the presidency have been among the longest-serving legislators. This is not an accident of history. Rather, it is proof that engaging in political work in the long term bears reward for those who either seek power for its own sake or seek it to make our society better than they found it.

But this task of educating voters and potential leaders is not only a prerogative of the media and civil society. It is an integral part of IEBC’s mandate. Why it is not discharging it, even in the absence of commissioners, beggars belief. The secretariat is not doing itself any favours by just sitting, accumulating debts and doing nothing to fulfil its responsibilities even in the absence of commissioners.

For instance, it was wrong for it to turn away Gen Z protesters who presented signatures to it demanding to recall some members of Parliament following the impeachment of then Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Under normal circumstances, the secretariat ought to have accepted the signatures and petitioned the Supreme Court for interpretation. Only by so doing will it keep Gen Z voters engaged in the civic process. Turning them away, without giving them other options they could pursue amounted to an abrogation of IEBC’s mandate.

However, it can redeem itself by educating prospective voters to show up at various IEBC offices to register so that it can save itself time – and money – when commissioners are eventually appointed.

— The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of The Nairobi Law Monthly and Nairobi Business Monthly