A Mombasa resident, Morris Kioko, has raised a significant alarm after discovering his personal identity was already registered in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) database, despite him never having applied to vote.
The 27-year-old from Kiembeni found that his National ID number was linked to a voter profile in Garissa County, specifically within the Balambala constituency and Jara Jara registration area. Most concerningly, the IEBC records indicated that he had participated in the 2013 general election, a period when Kioko was only 14 years old and legally ineligible to possess an ID or vote.
While the name and ID number on the portal matched his own, the profile assigned him a different ethnic identity – Somali – and a completely different residential location. “When they checked, the ID was already registered, and the person was in Garissa. The profile indicated Somali ethnicity, but the full names were mine. Everything had been changed,” Kioko told NTV.
Morris Kioko maintains that since receiving his ID in 2016, he has never registered as a voter. During the period he was allegedly active on the roll, he was completing National Youth Service (NYS) training in Bura, Tana River County, and he clarifies that he has never visited Garissa County, where his details are currently listed.
“I collected my ID in 2016. I have never registered before. I could not vote because I was at the NYS training, so this was supposed to be my first time registering. But when I continued checking, I found things were different from what I expected,” Kioko said. Officials asked him to wait 48 hours for a resolution, but the issue remained unresolved as of Monday, April 6, 2026.
IEBC Vice Chairperson Fahima Abdalla addressed the situation, describing it as an isolated case that warrants an urgent investigation. While welcoming Kioko to provide evidence at commission offices, she defended the security of the biometric voter register.
“Stealing votes in Kenya is not easy. Even our officers, if someone did something like that, I do not believe they would risk their work and life for such an act,” she stated.
The discrepancy has surfaced during the second week of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise, which launched on March 30, 2026. This 30-day nationwide drive aims to enroll 2.5 million new voters by April 28. The initiative is a key component of the IEBC’s broader strategy to expand the national database by over six million voters in preparation for the 2027 general election.
