The High Court in Kisumu has temporarily suspended the National Youth Council (NYC) elections after issuing conservatory orders stopping the electoral process pending the hearing and determination of a constitutional petition challenging the exercise.
Justice Alfred Mabeya issued the orders after considering submissions by the petitioner’s lawyer, effectively halting the entire election timetable published in Gazette Notice No. 5586 of April 17, 2026. The orders suspend the ward-level elections that had been scheduled for July 5, 2026, the constituency elections slated for July 16, 2026, and the National Youth Congress elections set for July 27, 2026.
The court also barred the respondents, their agents and servants from conducting or proceeding with the ward, constituency and national congress elections until they fully comply with the National Youth Council (Election of Certain Council Members) Regulations, 2021.
In addition, Justice Mabeya issued a mandatory injunction directing the respondents to publish a verified and publicly accessible final voters’ register to ensure the election process complies with the law. The conservatory orders stem from a petition filed by Austine Ogalo, who argues that the planned elections are unconstitutional and fail to meet the requirements of the National Youth Council election regulations.
According to the petition, the electoral process lacked transparency because there was no publicly available final voters’ register, no published list of cleared candidates, inadequate civic education, poor public communication on the election process, and a failure to establish and gazette constituency election steering committees or appoint election officials. Ogalo argues that these alleged failures violate constitutional principles of transparency, access to information and meaningful youth participation, and could disenfranchise millions of eligible young voters.
Justice Mabeya directed that the conservatory orders will remain in force pending the hearing and determination of the application and petition. He said the reasons for granting the orders will be contained in a detailed ruling scheduled for September 18, 2026.
