High Court allows scrutiny of Kiems data in Mbeere North by-election row

In a ruling issued on April 20, Justice Richard Mwongo ordered that the scrutiny and recount process be broadened to include logs from the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (Kiems) kits in selected polling stations.

The petition was filed by Newton Kariuki Ndwiga, who is seeking to interrogate the credibility of voter registration and turnout data from the by-election.

Through his legal team led by Ndegwa Njiru, Ndwiga returned to court to seek further guidance on how earlier directives issued on March 27, had been implemented.

He argued that the exercise carried out under Deputy Registrar Dorcas Endoo did not fully meet the court’s expectations, particularly because it excluded access to Kiems logs—an omission he said weakened the verification process.

In her report dated April 17, the Deputy Registrar acknowledged the limitation, stating, “The court order could not be complied with unless further directions are given.”

In his determination, Justice Mwongo agreed that the earlier orders anticipated a comparison between hard copy voter registers and electronic data stored in Kiems kits. Without that access, the court observed, the scrutiny exercise remained incomplete.

The court has now instructed IEBC to provide Kiems logs for polling day, November 27, 2025, in three polling centres—Siakago Social Hall, Mwondu Primary School and Gikuyari Primary School.

The data is expected to support a detailed cross-check between electronic records and physical registers, including identifying any voters added between June 21, 2022, and the by-election date.

It will also allow verification of whether such individuals participated in the election, using polling station diaries where inconsistencies arise.

The IEBC and other respondents had opposed the request, arguing the petitioner was effectively seeking to widen the scope of the initial court orders.

They maintained the scrutiny exercise had been conducted within the limits set by the court and cited Supreme Court precedents in support of their position.

However, the court held that access to Kiems logs was inherent in its earlier directions and essential for a thorough and meaningful review of the election process.

The judge also pointed out that in some polling stations, including Gitiburi and Kaungu, only ballot recounts had been undertaken instead of the full scrutiny earlier ordered, raising concerns about whether the process had been fully executed.

The Mbeere North by-election, held on November 27, 2025, followed the appointment of MP Geoffrey Ruku as the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, rendering the MP seat vacant.

The vacancy set off a fiercely competitive race that attracted multiple candidates and heightened political interest in Embu county.

UDA's Leo Wamuthende was declared the winner with 15,802 votes after a tightly contested poll, beating, among others, petitioner Ndwiga who garnered 15,308 votes. The results, however, were challenged soon after their announcement.

In his petition, Ndwiga cited a number of concerns, including alleged irregularities in voter registration, inconsistencies between manual records and electronic Kiems data, and questions around voter turnout figures in some polling stations.

He further alleged there may have been unlawful additions to the voter register outside the prescribed timelines, alongside discrepancies in polling station documentation that could have affected the final outcome.