Shock as first-time Mombasa voter finds details already in IEBC register

A 27-year-old first-time voter from Mombasa got the shock of his life when he tried to register and found his personal details already listed in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) voter register; even though he has never voted before.

Morris Kioko from Kiembeni said he was stunned to learn that the system showed he had voted in Garissa County during the 2013 General Election, despite being only 14 years old at the time.

Kioko, who collected his national ID in 2016, insists he has never registered as a voter. He was undergoing National Youth Service training in Bura, Tana River County, during the 2013 polls and has never set foot in Garissa County.

When he checked the voter registration portal, his correct ID number and names appeared, but everything else was wrong. The profile listed him as registered in Garissa County, Balambala Constituency, Jara Jara area, and even showed his ethnicity as Somali.

“When I went to the centre to register, my details showed a year that did not match me. When they checked, the ID was already registered to a person in Garissa. The profile indicated Somali ethnicity, but the full names were mine. Everything had been changed,” Kioko said.

He was told to wait two days for officials to correct the error, but as of Monday, April 6, 2026, nothing had been resolved.

IEBC Vice Chairperson Fahima Araphat Abdallah described the case as isolated and promised urgent investigation.

However, she defended the biometric voter register, saying vote stealing in Kenya is extremely difficult.

“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. Therefore, if the person has evidence, we welcome them to come to our offices so we can engage and resolve the matter,” Abdallah said.

The incident happened during the second week of the ongoing Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which aims to register 2.5 million new voters nationwide.

The month-long drive, which ends on April 28, 2026, is part of a bigger plan to add over six million voters to the register ahead of the 2027 General Election.