ghts Development (CEMIRIDE) & 2 others v Attorney General & 2 others; Independent Electoral and BoundariesCommission (Interested INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION......INTERESTED PARTY JUDGEMENT Introduction 1. The Petitioners herein are Civil Society Organisation focused on advocacy for the recognition of minorities and indigenous peoples and their rights in political, legal, economic and social processes in Kenya and individual Kenyans belonging to pastoralist indigenous communities in Kenya. 2. The 1st Respondent is sued in his capacity as the principal legal advisor of the Government of the Republic of Kenya as provided under Article 156 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 while the 2nd Respondent is a State Office mandated to inter alia, regulate the formation, registration and funding of political parties in accordance with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, and the rule of law. The 3rd Respondent, on the other hand, is the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, a State Officer in charge of the State department responsible for matters relating to information technology, communication and media while the Interested Party, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (“the IEBC” or “the Commission”) is created by Article 88 of the Constitution, for the management of the country’s electoral processes and is conferred with the responsibility for conducting free, fair and transparent elections. Petitioners’ Case 3. According to the Petitioners, they brought this Petition on their behalf and in the public interest and is seeking orders to actualise the human rights provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of minority and indigenous peoples in the Republic of Kenya. 4. The genesis of the petition, according to the Petitioners, was that on 10th November, 2021, the Integrated Political Parties Management System (hereafter referred to as the “IPPMS” or “the System”) was launched on the State’s e-Citizen platform by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties in conjunction with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) and its objective was the primary and only platform to manage the political parties’ membership register and to particularly avail the following services to Kenyans; checking of membership status, joining a party of choice and resigning from a party. The development of the said system, according to the Government, was intended to enable Kenyans easily access the services afore stated and in so doing transform the government’s service delivery to its citizens. 5. The Petitioners however, lamented that the digitisation of such cardinal services impedes the political rights of minorities and indigenous Peoples living in Kenya, a move that departs from Article 6(3) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. This is due to the fact that in a setting where minorities and indigenous peoples living in Kenya have been subjected to historical marginalisation and legislative discrimination over the years, and the majority of their population are locked out of internet access; the primary tool in accessing any digital platform. Accordingly, the IPPMS certainly exacerbates the situation by curtailing these communities’ participation in governance and the political landscape generally, since the Kenyan minorities and indigenous communities represent a section of the populace that is limited in access to technology, and the integration of the services to an online system will further disenfranchise these groups. 6. Based on the report on the 2019 census, it was pleaded that the statistical data reveals the stark reality of marginalisation in respect to access to the internet such that the proportion of population aged 15 years and above who searched and bought goods and services online was only 4.3%, most of whom reside in rural areas where the minorities and indigenous peoples are commonly found. In expounding on this, the Petitioners pleaded that as per the said Report, in Turkana County, largely populated by pastoralists, out of a population of 504,383 people aged 15 years and above, only 35,934 people, which translates to 7% were able to use the internet. In Garissa County, a predominant pastoralist county, out of a population of 453,170 of people aged 15 years and above, 18% (81,672 people) recorded use of internet. In Wajir, in a population of 383,424 of people above 15 years, only 4% (15,905 people) recorded use of internet. In Bunyala Sub County of Busia District, with a predominantly fisher community, only 7.8% of the 19,028 households reported use of internet, while in Suba North it was 10.1% of 29,662 of households. In Suba North out of 27,635 households, only 5.7% reported use of internet. This data demonstrates that a significant population, largely consisting of minorities and indigenous peoples are inaccessible to internet use. http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 2/29