• IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the audit shows the number of registered youths aged 18-34 years old stands at 39.84 per cent, representing a 5.27 per cent decline compared to 2017.
• He said the report further revealed male youth enrollment has declined by 2.89 per cent over the five-year period.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
An audit report by KPMG on voter registration has revealed a decline in the number of registered youths for the forthcoming general election.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the audit shows the number of registered youths aged 18-34 years old stands at 39.84 per cent, representing a 5.27 per cent decline compared to 2017.
"A further analysis of youth enrollment statistics shows a decline in the number of registered female voters by 7.75 percent between 2017 and 2022," Chebukati said.
He spoke on Monday while releasing the audit report at the Bomas of Kenya.
He said the report further revealed that male youth enrollment has declined by 2.89 per cent over the five-year period.
The enrollment of PWDs stands at 18.94 percent of the eligible voting population while registered Kenyan voters in the diaspora constitute 0.05 per cent of the registered voters.
Chebukati said the audit showed that women represent 49. 12 per cent of registered voters while men represent 50.88 per cent of total voters.
"Demonstrating that women are still underrepresented in the register of voters," Chebukati said.
Meanwhile, the IEBC boss said KPMG made seven recommendations aimed at enhancing accuracy and credibility in voter registration in the country.
Among them are changes in the process and system controls at IEBC.
"The audit has also recommended that IEBC gives priority to implementing a medium-term transformational plan to ensure that it has systems capacity and structures that will enable its role in anticipation of fresh registration process before the 2027 general elections," Chebukati said.
He said there was also a finding on the transfer of voters whose analysis identified several constituencies and counties with abnormal trends and transfer of voters.
"By the time of issuance of final KPMG audit report, transactions in areas identified as having unusual transfers had been reversed," Chebukati said.
On registered voters' biometric review, Cebukati said the audit confirmed that the fingerprint images captured by the commission were good and the de-duplication system was working as expected.
He said KPMG carried out comparisons with data on the National Registration Bureau, the Directorate of Immigration Services and Civil Registry services to ascertain the legitimacy of the registered voters.
On database security and data controls, KPMG urged IEBC to strengthen controls on application, and database infrastructure to ensure the security of the register of voters.
Chebukati said the commission has already commenced the implementation of changes to safeguard voter data security.
"This includes application of least privilege principle by disabling all user access rights and only giving them privileges needed to complete their specific tasks."
Chebukati also said KPMG recommended that the register of voters be inclusive in regard to age, gender, people living with disabilities and geographic distribution.
"The commission now invites all stakeholders to be able to provide all the necessary support in the preparation for the 2022 general election," Chebukati said.