The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) has launched a nationwide inspection of political party offices to establish whether fully registered parties are complying with legal and regulatory requirements ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The exercise, which began on Monday, October 5, will run until Friday, October 9, 2026, and covers party head offices and county branches across the country.
The first inspection was conducted at the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) county office in Kwale, which the party said was found to have met the required compliance standards.
DCP Executive Director Hezron Obaga said the inspection was facilitated by Kwale County Coordinator Rosemary Nyagah, who took ORPP officials through the office’s operations, documentation and compliance processes.
“Today, ORPP officials inspected the DCP Kwale County Office and confirmed that the office meets the required compliance standards,” Obaga said.
He added that DCP has established 40 county offices and hundreds of constituency offices across the country, and would continue strengthening its structures to ensure compliance.
The inspection follows a September 14 letter from the ORPP to secretaries-general of all fully registered political parties, directing them to provide updated details of their head and branch offices before the physical exercise began.
The parties were required to submit the locations of their current offices, together with the names and contact details of persons in charge, by September 25.
What ORPP will check
The regulator says the exercise is aimed at verifying whether parties are maintaining registered head offices and functional branch offices in more than half of Kenya’s counties, as required by law.
Under the Political Parties Act, fully registered parties are required to maintain functional county offices in at least 24 counties.
ORPP officials will also examine whether parties are keeping accurate and authentic statutory records at their offices.
These include membership registers, party constitutions, policies and strategic plans, nomination and internal election rules, details of party officials, financial records, asset registers and audited accounts.
The ORPP has previously identified inspection of party head and county offices as part of its compliance mandate under the Political Parties Act.
The latest exercise comes as political parties continue to prepare their structures and membership ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Kenya currently has 101 fully registered political parties listed by the ORPP.
