By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 21 April 2026 - A stark warning has emerged from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) over voter apathy in Nyanza Region.
Spot check by the top electoral commission executives in the area established, voter apathy is tightening its grip on Nyanza, even as an aggressive mobilisation campaign gathers pace across the region.
The contradiction is striking. Energy on the ground. Indifference at the IEBC register log.
Now, IEBC Acting Chief Executive Officer Moses Ledama Sunkuli has raised the red flag.
Speaking from Siaya IEBC offices, he revealed that registration levels remain alarmingly low, with the county languishing at just 47 per cent of its target.
This comes despite national figures surpassing 1.3 million new voters. The disparity is politically significant.
The warning lands at a critical moment. The Kenya Youth Transition Initiative (KYTI), under the patronage of Interior Principal Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo, is driving a region-wide voter listing and civic education effort.
Its ambition is sweeping. Nyanza aims to add two million new voters. But ambition without uptake risks slowing down.
Sunkuli’s message is blunt. The Commission cannot deliver alone. Political leaders must mobilise.
Communities must respond. Without collective urgency, the region risks falling short of its democratic weight.
Operationally, the framework is intact. Registration clerks are deployed. ICT officers are active. Assistants are stationed across wards. Yet the numbers refuse to rise at the required pace. The system is working.
The public is not fully engaging.
A deeper issue complicates the effort.
Thousands of uncollected National Identity Cards remain stranded in registration centres.
Many belong to residents working in Nairobi and other urban areas. Their absence translates directly into lost registrations.
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The consequence is immediate and measurable.
There is still a narrow window for recovery. Sunkuli projects that Siaya could reach 70 per cent of its target, perhaps even 90 per cent, if mobilisation intensifies sharply.
But this optimism is conditional. It depends on swift action. Not rhetoric.
The Commission has also reiterated a key rule. Voter transfers require physical presence due to biometric verification. There will be no shortcuts. Electoral integrity remains non-negotiable.
Time is now the defining factor. With the deadline fast approaching, the stakes are clear.
KYTI’s drive has injected momentum. But without a decisive shift in public response, voter apathy could yet blunt the region’s political influence.
In the final analysis, the battle is no longer logistical.
It is psychological. Will Nyanza rise to register its voice—or retreat into silence at the ballot’s threshold? IEBC targets to enlist about 900,000 new voters in Nyanza.
It's latest concern is a wake up call to KYTI mobilizers and IEBC officials currently registering voters to up the game.
PS Omollo wants the mobilizers to be more pro active in engaging with the eligible youth to register.
He is urging them to carry on with sensitization program actively going forward to mop up young people to register.
This comes amid revelation of so many ID cards lying uncollected in the immigration offices.
Consequently, the ministry of interior grassroot officers have also been asked to intensify efforts to mobilize and trace owners of thousands of id cards lying uncollected in the immigration offices across the region.
Omollo wants them to check out the IDs and where possible trace their owners in the villages where they come from working closely with stakeholders, community elders or village elders , chiefs, ward reps and line community organisations alongside KYTI to trace the IDs owners and urge them to register as nyanza leaders look forward to double the vote basket statistics.
IEBC Sounds Alarm as Voter Apathy Threatens Nyanza Drive
Low turnout in Siaya signals growing voter apathy across Nyanza counties