People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua has questioned the credibility of Kenya’s 2027 elections after UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar made remarks suggesting that fingerprints of deceased Kenyans could be used to cast votes for President William Ruto.
In a statement on Sunday, Karua said the remarks were “a seriously grave matter”, warning that the confidence with which such a statement was made was “deeply disturbing” as the country approaches an election whose integrity is a constitutional responsibility.
“A government official publicly saying their strategy will be ‘voting the dead’ is a seriously grave matter,” Karua said, without naming Omar directly.
Her remarks followed comments by Omar during a political engagement in Mombasa in which he suggested that the fingerprints of people who had died could be taken before burial and used through the biometric voter registration system to cast ballots in their names.
The remarks have since triggered criticism from opposition leaders, who say they raise fresh concerns about possible manipulation of the 2027 election.
Karua accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of having a pattern of “turning a blind eye to electoral violations” and demanded that the commission explain how it intends to protect the integrity of the next election.
“What systems and safeguards are you putting in place to ensure that no vote can be manufactured, no voter can be impersonated and no political actor or public official can interfere with the integrity of the 2027 election?” she asked.
Karua invoked Article 81 of the Constitution, which sets requirements for elections to be free and fair, transparent, impartial and accurate, and for them to be administered independently and neutrally.
“The IEBC must remember that its constitutional mandate is to protect the people's right to choose their leaders and that responsibility begins long before election day,” she said.
The controversy comes as the IEBC prepares for the 2027 General Election and faces increasing scrutiny over the integrity of the voters’ register and safeguards against electoral fraud.
The commission has also been developing an electoral risk-management system to identify and address threats to the credibility and peaceful conduct of the election.