IEBC Put on the Spot after UDA SG's Remarks of Using Dead Voters to Enhance Ruto's Win in 2027

People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua has taken issue with the remarks of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) secretary general Hassan Omar over using the dead in the next year's presidential vote.

Omar had been speaking in Jomvu, Mombasa County, where he told a gathering that the ruling party was prepared to go to extreme lengths to secure victory, including capturing the fingerprints of the recently deceased before burial so that their votes would still count.

"On election day, we are ready to do whatever it takes. Even if someone has just died, we take their finger before we bury them, so that their vote counts," Omar is quoted as having said.

Reacting to the remarks via the X social network on Sunday, September 13, Karua termed the sentiments a grave matter that raised serious questions about the sanctity of the electoral process ahead of the next general election.

Putting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on the spot, Karua demanded answers over what safeguards it has in place following remarks by Omar suggesting the party could leverage the biometric data of deceased persons to bolster President William Ruto's re-election bid in 2027.

"A government official publicly saying their strategy will be 'voting the dead' is a seriously grave matter. The confidence with which such a statement can be made is deeply disturbing, especially at the cusp of an election whose integrity is a constitutional responsibility," Karua said.

Omar had further framed the matter as one of political survival for UDA supporters, suggesting that even the votes of the dead carried strategic weight in the party's dealings with government.

"Even the person we bury today; that vote is our bullet, our weapon, our shield. It is impossible for us to go back to where we were. Once you have registered those voters, that becomes our basis for demanding more development, more ministers, more positions," Omar added.

The PLP leader accused the electoral commission of consistently failing to hold sympathisers of the current regime to account whenever they were found to flout the electoral code of conduct, terming it a troubling pattern that could not be ignored.

"We have seen an unacceptable pattern of IEBC turning a blind eye to electoral violations and this is something they must answer to. Article 81 of our constitution requires our elections to be free and fair, transparent, impartial, accurate and administered in an independent and neutral manner," she said.

Karua then posed a direct challenge to the commission, questioning what concrete measures it had put in place to guard against manipulation of the voter register and impersonation ahead of the 2027 polls.

"IEBC, 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? 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," Karua said.

Besides Karua, other members of the opposition also came out to call Omar out.

Some rallied in Kenol after a church event in Kangema, with Ndindi Nyoro and Fred Matiang’i warning Omar’s words had seriously undermined public trust in the electoral process.

From the US, DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua pressed IEBC to respond.

"I saw UDA secretary general Hassan Omar saying even dead voters will cast their votes. We want IEBC to tell us who these dead voters are and what the UDA Secretary General means," he said.

Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna added;

"The UDA secretary general should be called before IEBC because he is undermining public confidence in our electoral processes,"