Political analyst Fanya Mambo Kinuthia has called for greater digital integration in Kenya’s voter registration process, arguing that young people should be allowed to register using their mobile phones just as they do for banking, transport, and other essential services.
Speaking during an interview on Radio Generation, Kinuthia said the country’s youth have already embraced technology in almost every aspect of life, making it unnecessary to rely solely on manual voter registration methods.
“They operate millions of shillings from their phones. They pay from their phones. These people order for food from their phones. They order for their transport from their phones,” he said.
He added that even complex processes such as applying for visas are now done digitally, proving that Kenya’s systems can also adapt.
“When they want to apply for a U.S. visa, they apply for a substantive and as important as a U.S. visa appointment date and a whole form filled from their phone. And the same should apply to register voters,” Kinuthia explained.
The analyst argued that the manual system currently used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is not only outdated but also expensive and inaccessible to many young Kenyans, particularly those living in remote areas.
He cited constituencies like Dagoretti South and Kibwezi, where the distance and cost of transport discourage many potential voters.
“If you come to Dagoretti South, a young person coming from the farthest part of that constituency has to spend 200 shillings one way and another 200 shillings back. You get a constituency as big as Kibwezi, to get from one part to the other, you’d need 500 shillings one way and another 500 back. That’s 1,000 shillings just to register,” he lamented.
Kinuthia urged the IEBC to modernize its systems and embrace mobile registration to make the process more inclusive and efficient, noting that digital registration could dramatically increase youth turnout and strengthen Kenya’s democracy.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has been reporting a low turnout for continuous voter registration contrary to their earlier expectation of registering more new voters with a target of 6.3million voters with the target on young people.
As of October 8, 2025 status update by the commission, a total 20,754 Kenyans had registered as new voters in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise across the country with 3,207 transfers and 61 updates being recorded in its constituency offices nationwide.
According to the report, Nairobi County led with the highest number of newly registered voters at 4,804, followed by Mombasa County with 1,379, while Nyamira County recorded the lowest turnout at only 18 new registrations.
The IEBC is conducting the Continuous Voter Registration exercise in all 290 constituency offices, except for 24 electoral areas where by-elections are scheduled for November 27, 2025.
