'Voter found!' Kenyan Gen Zs turn IEBC verification into a viral trend in civic awareness drive

Tired of merely complaining about poor leadership online, these young Kenyans have now turned their friendship circles into 'woke' seminaries where they have purposefully roped in civic awareness into their day-to-day buddy activities.

Instead of just going to the club and snoring the night away, or going for binge-fuelled road trips with no clear purpose, Kenyans are now planning hangouts that are deliberately structured around voter uprightness, with many advocating for a voter's card as the ticket into the friend group.

Online, the Gen Z have been sharing their daily - or nocturnal - outings, all of which feature a tight group of friends who have registered as voters - or are in the process of registering.

It isn't just a hangout - it's an effort in restoring the country and cleaning up Kenya's rotten political system.

Friends have also started ostracising anyone in their friend group who is not a registered voter, forcing every member to arm themselves with a voter's card if they wish to continue enjoying the friend group's social benefits.

Jennifer Wanjiku, a proponent of the new idea, wrote on X: "If they are your friends and they are not registered as a voter, cut them off!"

Activist Ademba Allans also jumped onto the new fad, urging Kenyans to check if their friends were registered voters. 

While sharing a video on the topic on X, Allans showed several of his friends in their voter element: full government name and IEBC voter details straight from the voter verification portal.

Once opened, the portal scans for your records and displays the message: "Voter found! Details as below."

X user Will Olwande also joined the conversation, suggesting that he was going to hold a Kenyan concert where your voter's card will be the only valid issue of entry.

"I am going to do the unthinkable and host a voter's card entry event for KE music lovers, your ticket is discounted if you are a registered voter, and most of your fav artists are going to come and hang with me! Let’s be the change we want!" he wrote.

Also backing the movement was June Gathu, who wrote, "I'm genuinely going to cut off friends and family who don't register as voters and actually go to vote that day. Because we can't be suffering together and you're doing nothing about it."

Activist Hanifa Adan also threw her weight behind the trend, writing: "I love this so much. Please don’t let it stop. We will end the apathy one registration, one selfie, one video at a time. Make it a trend, brag about it, post about it. We will validate each other out of a bad government!"

One of the viral clips shared by Tiktok creator Lixine Vela shows the young voter introducing the world to her 'small circle'.

In the video titled 'Let me introduce you to my small circle', Vela films her friends at dance parties and even indoors, but is also keen to show that each and every one of them is already a registered voter while displaying each individual friends' voter's acknowledgement slip.

The clip, which has already been viewed by over 280,000 people and has garnered a staggering 50,000 'LIKES' set off a chain of challenges which have dominated Tiktok with many spoofs showing Kenyans introducing their so-called 'Small Circle'.

Another video showed a young group of friends deciding to spend the day together, but instead of engaging in frivolous activities, they visit a nearby IEBC registration centre, and all register as voters.

This is all part of friends injecting civic education amongst themselves, and ensuring that the 'small circle' dances to the same political tune.

Ademba has gone further than merely sharing trendy videos; he has now organised a mass Gen Z registration effort to happen on Tuesday, 17th March at the IEBC D.O's office in Kasarani.

Dubbed "Tuko Kadi", the drive is part of a mass voter registration effort encompassing the entire Kasarani sub-county.

Urging the youth to turn out in large numbers, he wrote: "Hatupigi tu kelele online. Kesho tuko ground tunazoza. Beba ID yako. Hata kama wee ni voter wa ocha na hauna Kura wee come, you will register to vote huko shags at Kasarani offices. Pia kuna transferring stations."