Editor's Review

Speaking on Friday, Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait noted that the burden of deregistering those wrongfully listed as members of a given political party, falls under the given party.

The government through the Office of Data Protection Commissioner has urged Kenyans wrongfully listed as members of political parties to file complaints to be deregistered.

Speaking on Friday, Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait noted that the burden of deregistering those wrongfully listed as members of a given political party, falls under the given party.

“If you found yourself registered as a member of a political party without your consent, it is the parties that should deregister you,” Kassait said.

Early this week, thousands of Kenyans took to Twitter complaining of being registered to political parties without their consent.

Many argued that this was a breach of their privacy and violation of personal data protection.

One of the high-profile cases was that of ODM leader Raila Odinga’s son; Raila Odinga Jnr whose details indicated that he was registered to Amani National Congress.

The massive pressure from netizens forced the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) to intervene, stating that they’ll reach out to political parties over the complaints raised by Kenyans.

“The process of onboarding some modules of the Intergrated Political Parties Management System (IPPMS) on the E-citizen platform is currently on pilot stage. ORPP will hold consultations with parties and stakeholders to amicably address any concerns received.

“The process(once finalized on stakeholder consultations) is premised to allow Kenyans to verify membership status,upon which appropriate measures will be taken in the cases of involuntary membership in line with Article 38 of the Constitution of Kenya,2010,” ORPP tweeted.