Muturi wants population master register audited
National
By
Irene Githinji
| Apr 07, 2026
Justin Muturi calls for a forensic audit of the population register over data integrity concerns. [File, Standard]
Former Attorney General Justin Muturi has asked the government to commission a comprehensive and independent forensic audit of the population master register to establish its integrity.
Muturi, who is also the Democratic Party of Kenya leader, urged the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to refrain from making any alterations to the voters' register until the proposed audit is completed and its findings made public.
“Such an audit should be conducted by credible and independent private firms, working transparently and subject to public accountability,” Muturi said in a statement.
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He cited the recent audit that uncovered about 973,000 “ghost learners” in the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) as a matter of grave national concern.
Muturi explained that Nemis is designed as a centralised database relying on foundational identity records, including birth registration data. The existence of such a large number of irregular entries, he said, raises serious questions about the integrity, management and verification of data in government systems.
“While this anomaly has rightly been associated with financial misappropriation through inflated school capitation, it also exposes deeper systemic vulnerabilities that cannot be ignored. If such large-scale discrepancies can exist within an official government database, it becomes imperative to interrogate the robustness of other interconnected national registries,” he argued.
Muturi raised concerns over potential weaknesses in data capture, validation and inter-agency coordination involving the IEBC and other government entities.
“There is a need to safeguard the credibility of the national population database, which forms the backbone of identity management in Kenya. There is a necessity to ensure that all national registers are free from duplication, manipulation or fraudulent entries,” he said.
IEBC has maintained that the register of voters is verified, accurate, secure and biometrically verifiable.
The commission has also clarified concerns over whether voters registered before 2012 are required to register afresh.
According to the IEBC, this is not necessary unless individuals failed to register from 2012, when the new Register of Voters (ROV) was established under the 2010 Constitution and the 2012 boundaries delimitation.
“This is because, before 2012, the ROV was manual. In 2012, it became biometric, and all eligible Kenyans were required to enrol and have their biometrics captured. This is the ROV that has been in place since 2013. As of the 2022 General Election, the Commission maintained an accurate and audited register comprising 22,120,458 voters,” IEBC said.
The commission commenced the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise on March 30, which is set to run for 30 days, targeting 2.5 million new voters.
As of April 2, the commission had registered 344,316 new voters, processed 18,610 transfers and recorded 329 cases of changes or updates of voter details.
Meanwhile, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has alleged attempts at voter suppression, particularly in regions perceived to oppose the government.
Gachagua called on the Registrar of Persons to ensure the fair issuance of national identity cards across the country to enable all eligible citizens to register as voters.
“We have received information that national identity cards are not being issued in areas that are not supporting the President, such as Mt Kenya, Nakuru, Kisii and Kakamega, among others. We urge the Registrar of Persons to stop discrimination and issue IDs to all,” he said.