Democratic Party deputy leader Justin Muturi/FILEDemocratic Party (DP) leader Justin Muturi now wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to gazette names of all polling stations.
Muturi, a former National Assembly Speaker and Attorney General, argues that the continued failure by the IEBC to gazette all polling stations is unacceptable and deeply troubling.
“At a time when public confidence in electoral institutions must be strengthened, unnecessary delays only create suspicion and invite questions about what is being hidden from public scrutiny,” he said.
In a statement, the DP leader said public primary schools have traditionally served as polling stations but recent revelations of ghost schools raise doubts on the credibility of polling centres.
“However, recent concerns regarding the existence of questionable or unverified schools have heightened the urgency for complete transparency. Kenyans cannot be expected to trust a process whose critical components remain concealed from public verification.”
Muturi said the gazettement of polling stations is not a favour to citizens but a fundamental requirement for electoral transparency.
“Publishing the full list would enable citizens, political parties, civil society organisations, faith-based groups, the media, and election observers to independently verify every polling station and expose any irregularities long before election day.”
Muturi said IEBC must understand that transparency delayed is transparency denied and that every day that passes without gazettement of polling stations and without meaningful stakeholder engagement further erodes public trust.
He added, “We therefore demand the immediate gazettement of all polling stations and the urgent convening of a national stakeholders' conference. The time for excuses has passed. The time for transparency is now.”
What is particularly alarming, according to Muturi, is the refusal to convene a national stakeholders' conference despite growing demands from virtually every sector of society.
“The media, donor community, diplomatic community, Gen Z, political parties, faith-based organisations, civil society, professional bodies, and ordinary citizens are all calling for a structured engagement with the IEBC.”
He argued that the Commission cannot claim to be preparing for credible elections while simultaneously avoiding the very stakeholders whose confidence it seeks to secure.
“Silence is not consultation. Delay is not engagement. Evasion is not leadership,” the former House speaker quipped.
The DP leader said a stakeholders' conference is not optional—it is an urgent democratic necessity as it would provide a platform for concerns to be raised, questions to be answered, and confidence-building measures to be agreed upon before the country enters another electoral cycle.
“Kenyans are watching. The international community is watching. The credibility of future elections will be judged not only by what happens on election day, but by the openness, accountability, and transparency demonstrated in the preparations leading up to it.”
