- A new civic-tech platform, Mfumo aims to enhance voter participation and access to electoral information in Kenya ahead of the 2027 general election.
- Using the platform, users can easily locate the nearest IEBC office for voter registration assistance via a chatbot, thereby dealing with some of the problems they have encountered
- Positive user feedback highlights the platform’s intuitive design and usability for addressing registration challenges for people who are eager to vote
Nairobi, Kenya: As soon as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) blew the whistle for Kenyans to start checking their voter registration status, eager voters went to check, but some encountered problems.
Source: Facebook
For instance, a lady registered to vote in her upcountry home in Kisii a long time ago, and she has since moved to different towns for work. The lady said that she hadn’t participated in the last elections because that would mean travelling all the way to Kisii.
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This time, she does not want to be found flat-footed, but she doesn’t know where to begin so as to change her voting station.
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Another woman also took to her family WhatsApp group to confirm her registration status, and going by the silence on the platform, it emerged that many people do not know what to do in such instances.
“I was trying to find out about IEBC offices, and I discovered it’s extremely hard to find them, as very few of them have been updated on Google Maps. For a majority of people it is extremely difficult to find the office, and they give up trying to resolve registration issues,” said Samuel Waithaka, who is also a voter.
Having heard of the above predicaments and given his prying, Waithaka decided that he could not just sit back; he had to do something, and that is why he decided to come up with Mfumo.
How did Waithaka think of Mfumo?
Speaking to NgGossips, Waithaka said that his background is in software development, and much of his work has involved building digital solutions, particularly chatbots used by businesses to improve customer experience.
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“While experimenting with chatbot technology and exploring different use cases, I began thinking about whether these tools could solve bigger problems beyond business,” he said.
“At the same time, I have always been concerned about some of the challenges we face as a country, especially how voting decisions are often influenced by factors like ethnicity, charisma, or campaign hype rather than integrity, competence, or vision. I kept asking myself whether technology could help address this problem by delivering effective civic education to citizens,” he added.
That idea evolved into a broader concept: a civic-tech platform that could help citizens access reliable civic information and make more informed choices when participating in elections. At that point, I decided to build it.
Source: UGC
What problem is Waithaka trying to solve?
According to Waithaka, one of the key problems he has witnessed in Kenya’s democracy is that many voters do not always have access to the information they need to evaluate leaders using the right criteria.
“Through this platform, I want to help citizens examine leadership more critically — looking at qualities such as integrity, track record, and vision. I believe that when voters are better informed, they are more likely to choose leaders who can serve the country effectively,” he said.
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“However, the immediate problem I am focusing on is voter participation. Low participation weakens democracy, and one practical issue contributing to this is the difficulty many citizens face when trying to transfer their voting stations after moving to a new location,” he added.
To address the problem, Waithaka mapped all IEBC constituency offices across the country and through the platform, a user can share their location with the chatbot, which then identifies and recommends the nearest IEBC office where they can receive assistance, such as voter registration support or transferring their voting station.
What is Mfumo’s accessibility and cost?
Waithaka’s goal is for the platform to serve citizens across Kenya, and by mapping IEBC offices in constituencies nationwide, the system will be able to guide users to the nearest electoral office wherever they are.
“Over time, I hope to expand the platform with more civic education tools and participation features,” he said.
The platform is also designed to be freely accessible for citizens, and the intention is to remove barriers to civic information so that anyone with a mobile phone can easily access voter guidance and democratic participation tools.
How can one use Mfumo? Well, from http://www.mfumo.org one can go to Civic Bot, and the bot will prompt them through the rest. It should be intuitive.
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What challenges has Waithaka encountered?
From a technical perspective, building the platform itself was not particularly difficult because of Waithaka’s experience in software development; he had a clear idea of how the system would work, and development progressed largely as planned.
“The biggest challenge has been raising awareness and letting people know that the tool exists and can help them solve issues related to voter registration and participation,” he said.
“Another challenge has been recruiting volunteers; I cannot do this work alone, and I need volunteers across the country to help identify and geocode IEBC constituency offices. Volunteers help by locating the IEBC office in their constituency, visiting the site if possible, and sharing the location pin with the platform so that the system can guide users accurately,”he added.
What has Mfumo achieved so far?
Waithaka told NgGossips that one of the most encouraging things so far has been the feedback from people who have tested the platform.
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“I have asked several users to try it out, and I have been very interested in hearing their experiences; the feedback has been consistently positive,” he said.
“Users often mention how easy the platform is to use and how intuitive the interaction feels. That is very important to me because usability is central to the success of the platform. This feedback is helping me refine and improve the system as it continues to develop,” he said.
IEBC claries on old voters
In another story, IEBC clarified that voters who never re-registered under the biometric system that was introduced in 2012 needed to update their details.
Chairperson Erastus Ethekon also stressed that the directive would not erase the pre-2012 voter data but targets the people who are on the manual roll.
The commission affirmed the current register is accurate, audited, and has been used in the last three election cycles
Source: NgGossips
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