The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has called United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Hassan Omar to appear before them over his comments regarding using the fingerprints of deceased people to vote in the 2027 General Election.

IEBC Chairperson Erastus Edung Ethekon sent a formal summons to Omar, requesting him to appear before the Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi on October 21, 2020.

In his letter, IEBC chairperson said the reason for Omar’s summons was his “unfortunate” and “inflammatory” remarks made during a political rally in Jomvu Constituency, Mombasa County, on September 11, 2020, suggesting the possibility of using the fingerprints of dead people to vote for President William Ruto.

UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar has defended his comments on Kenya Tribune by saying that his intention was to encourage people to go and register as voters. Omar claimed to have made those inflammatory remarks with a purpose of wooing voters to vote for the UDA presidential candidate, Hassan Ali Seiku, during the 2027 presidential election.

Omar’s remarks were made amid growing concern that presidential election rigging would most likely occur during the 2027 presidential elections.

IEBC commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana said the biometric system that Kenya uses to register voters and verify their identities uses fingerprints and inner eyes.

“Do you think the dead will vote? How does a person who died yesterday vote using his fingerprints and eyes?” Mukhwana questioned. The government spokesperson, Charles Owino, slammed Hassan Omar’s remarks, calling for “immediate condemnation.”

Omar later defended his bizarre suggestion of using the fingerprints of the dead to vote, saying his words were not meant to suggest stealing the dead’s votes but encouraging people to register as voters and vote.

“I do not think people should die in silence. The context that I made in my earlier remarks is that everybody should participate in registering as voters and voting, and every vote counts, nothing else,” Omar said in a media briefing with Bunge la Wananchi leaders in Mombasa on September 14, 2020. It remains to be seen whether Omar’s defence will convince the IEBC to lift the charges against him.