Proposed amendments to the Elections Act understandably provoked intense political and public scrutiny this week. South Africa’s local elections next week and recent Tanzania and Brasil General Elections lead me to ask whether we are focusing our attention on the right risks. Four significant risks are being overlooked.

Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga’s threat to arrest her citizens for crossing into Kenya to register or vote in next year’s General Election has reignited concerns raised by a recent KTN exposé that Ugandan nationals were acquiring Kenyan identification documents and registering as voters ahead of the 2027 election. Not going away, this controversy warrants far greater public scrutiny.

Kenya’s 2027 elections are likely to remain the most expensive in the world if the NIMD Kenya findings released this week are accurate. Published with six other civic organisations, the report identifies low public trust as a major factor in the inflated costs. What else can voters and policymakers do to prevent the State squandering Sh 61.7 billion of taxpayers’ money?

The women-focused Baddies na Ballots voter registration campaign is timely. To succeed, it must not only inspire women to participate in the electoral process but also create an enabling environment where capable women aspirants can emerge, thrive, and be fully protected and resourced.

While all elections produce both winners and losers, the real loser in Ol Kalou was not UDA's candidate, but the State itself. The giant ants who feasted on Ol Kalou are on the move. Unless we remain vigilant and active, they will carry corruption, violence and impunity into every corner of our beloved Republic next year.

Following the most compromised election in the history of Tanzania last year, Samia Suluhu’s comments at the business conference this week were hard-faced, honest and habitual. Sadly, she represents a troubling new breed of politicians who threaten violence against their own youth with disturbing ease.

The recent mass voter registration drive has rewritten Kenya’s electoral history, delivering one of the biggest youth electorates the country has ever seen. The figures tell a powerful story, but if this was such a success, why did the Election Commission end it prematurely?