Retired soldier wants court to stop voter registration exercise

IEBC resumes voter registration on Monday, September 29. [File, Standard] A retired military officer has gone to court seeking to stop the voter registration exercise set to begin on Monday. Under a certificate of urgency Captain (Rtd) Jammies Wafubwa wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) restrained from registering new voters from September 29, 2025. However, Wafubwa in his application, insists that IEBC does not conform to provisions of Article 83 (1) (a) (b) (c) and violates the provisions of Article 38 of the Constitution. Provisions in the particular Article states that for a person to qualify for registration as a voter at elections or referenda, the person must be an adult citizen, is not declared to be of unsound mind, and has not been convicted of an election offence during the preceding five years. One of his grounds for seeking to stop the exercise, Wafubwa argues that IEBC has no capacity to assess the mental sanity of persons willing to register as voters. "The Article specifically provides that every person who wants to be registered as a voter must have his sanity of mind evaluated, and present to the IEBC a certificate or proof that he or she has not been convicted of an election offence within the preceding five years for him or her to be registered as a voter," states Wafubwa in the court papers. On September 9, the Commission announced that Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) will resume in line with its constitutional mandate under Article 88(4) of the Constitution. "Eligible Kenyans may register at any IEBC Constituency office, except in areas currently with by-elections. Services available include new voter registration, transfer of voter registration to a new location, correction or update of voter details, and inspection of voter registration status," said the Commission's chairperson Erastus Edung. By failing to the adhere to the Constitution, which is the supreme law, Wafubwa argues, the anticipated voter listing exercise is null and void, and will amount to illegal expenditure of public funds. "Unless restrained by this honourable court, the voter registration will be done in the blatant violation of the Constitution, eroding constitutional supremacy and leading to illegal elections, dissipating public resources unlawfully and thereby rendering the substratum of this petition nugatory," says Wafubwa. Further the retired soldier has told court that IEBC was served with Notice to stop the voter registration exercise until Court of Appeal in case No. E595 of 2024 gives the final orders on the role of military reserve. In the Appeal, Wafubwa wants clarity regarding Article 264 on Repeal of the previous Constitution, arguing some provisions in Chapter 206 of the old Constitution have either been deliberately concealed, or were never transferred to the Kenya Defence Forces Act. The petition has been listed for directions at the Milimani High Court on November 5, 2025.

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