Lugari youth up in arms with MP over alleged voter registration bribery claims

A section of youth being registered by the IEBC clerks on April 18, 2026. [Benard Lusigi, Standard]

Lugari Member of Parliament Nabii Nabwera is now on the receiving end of criticism from his youths over his alleged remarks that most young people are demanding bribes to be  registered as voters in the ongoing nationwide voter registration exercise.

Led by John Shikwati, the young people, besides Nabwera’s threats of denying services to unregistered,  vowed to teach the legislator a lesson come 2027, stating that they are going to mobilise each other to turn up in large numbers and get registered.

"We are very saddened by the accusations of our MP. He should focus on development and stop making general and blanket statements that we are demanding money to be registered. As a leader, our MP should provide guidance and hope to many young people to get registered instead of unfounded accusations," said Shikwati.

Shikwati, however, maintained that the lawmaker should raise awareness to inspire and motivate youths to register.

"Nabwera should establish why some youths are demanding facilitation he describes as bribery to be registered instead of blanket accusation. The MP should, in fact, engage the youth to find out the challenges young people are going through and plan how to address the challenges," said Shikwati.

He added, "There is no harm for our MP to educate and convince young people of the importance of becoming a voter and organise with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission  (IEBC) on how youths can have an easy and smooth way of being registered."

Additionally, the young people criticised the MP for threatening to deny them public services if they are not registered as voters, arguing that they still pay taxes and should receive services regardless of their voter status.

"It is not correct for our MP to threaten that he will not give bursary and other basic requirements just because some of us are not registered as voters. We pay taxes, and it is our right to get services. What our MP should be doing is to engage the youth and see how he can help them to be registered, but threats will not help him," said Ian Vudoti.

The youths are determined to register as voters to demonstrate their significance in local leadership and challenge the MP's perspective.

"We are going to mobilise our fellow youth on our own and get registered; we will not sit down and allow leaders to demean and falsely accuse youth because of a few people. Our MP should know that he cannot facilitate all of us to get registered, but he should try if he means well. We have seen other leaders in other places, like our Governor Fernandes Barasa, holding rallies urging youth to get registered as voters, and that is the kind of leadership we want," said Irene Kavetsa.

She added, "We are going to make changes at the ballot come 2027, it will be not be business as usual as some leaders think, the earlier the MP wakes up and engage youth in a good, respective and objective way the better for him otherwise he will not believe because we have the ability and capacity to influence the political dynamics considering Lugari is a cosmopolitan area."

Last week, during a church service, MP Nabwera expressed his disappointment with a section of youth in his area, claiming they were demanding money to be registered.

The lawmaker urged parents to sensitise their children on the importance of being a registered voter, vowing not to give bursary, scholarship and even electricity connectivity to families whose children who are above 18 years have not registered as voters.

"I want to appeal to our religious leaders to pray for these Gen-Zs. We have 16 young people who were asked to register as voters, but later they cornered and forced one of the IEBC clerks to call me, while I was in parliament, to tell me I should give them something. As parents, we should teach our children that it is their democratic right to register and participate in the voting exercise," said Nabii.

He added, "From next year, I will not give bursary, scholarship and even electricity connectivity to families where children who have attained the age of 18 years have not registered as voters because we cannot have people who are a burden."

This comes as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) urged politicians to help the electoral body sensitise and raise awareness among young people to register so that it can achieve its target.

Last week, IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana said Kakamega was leading in voter registration in the Western region, while urging leaders to use their influence to urge the youths to register.