IEBC seeks Sh3.5 billion new office away from CBD to beat high rent, city protests

IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan at a past event. Photo: X/IEBCKenya

By Lucy Mumbi
Sunday, July 6, 2025

If the Uchaguzi Centre is completed as envisioned, it will serve as IEBC’s permanent operational base, easing cost burdens, enhancing security, and shielding the capital’s commercial core from future election-related unrest.

After years of grappling with rent costs and repeated protests outside its city headquarters, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has revived plans to relocate its offices, this time seeking Sh3.5 billion to construct its premises away from Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD).

According to the Commission, the move will help reduce recurrent expenditure and ease the burden of disruptions caused by demonstrations, while also providing a permanent home for IEBC operations.

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Appearing before the Senate’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marjan Hussein Marjan said the agency hopes to begin construction of the new Uchaguzi Centre in July 2026, subject to the availability of funds.

He noted that the Commission is targeting an initial allocation of Sh201 million in the financial year ending June 2027, followed by an additional Sh602 million in the subsequent year to kick-start the project.

“The acquisition of the Commission’s premises would cut recurrent costs such as office space rent, hiring venues for commission activities, including meetings with stakeholders, nomination of candidates, training for staff and stakeholders, and storage/warehousing for strategic and non-strategic materials. In the long run, this would save Kenyan taxpayers’ money,” Marjan told the committee chaired by Bomet Senator, Hillary Sigei.

The Commission is based at Anniversary Towers, a city centre building owned by Kenya Re, where it pays at least Sh100 million annually in rent. Marjan said the amount does not include additional recurring costs for hiring external meeting venues and securing storage facilities.

IEBC’s plan to relocate is not new. On March 16, 2021, the Commission floated an open tender for the purchase of land to build its new offices. The specifications outlined that the land should be at least five acres, located not less than 20 kilometres from the CBD, easily accessible by road, and situated on stable, gently sloping terrain.

Efforts to secure a permanent home for the Commission began as early as 2013 under the then chairperson Issack Hassan, who at the time requested Sh800 million from Parliament to purchase a dedicated office block. He cited Sh48 million in annual rent and raised concerns about congestion and security risks at the current location.

The conversation resurfaced in 2018 during the tenure of Wafula Chebukati, who supported the relocation effort, pointing out that owning premises would reduce rent and venue-hiring costs, while also improving logistical planning, especially during elections.

“The relocation out of the central business district will see minimal disruptions to other activities in the city centre in the event of any picketing and demonstrations,” Chebukati said then.

The former chair noted that frequent protests near Anniversary Towers, often triggered by election-related grievances, had severely disrupted businesses in the CBD and strained Commission operations.

“The IEBC is, of course, an independent organisation with many stakeholders and often some are dissatisfied and resort to protests. We feel that being based in the CBD has done a disservice to other businesses and so we need to move elsewhere,” he said.

Ahead of the August 2017 elections, anti-IEBC protests led by the National Super Alliance (Nasa) rocked the CBD, with demonstrators accusing the Commission of planning to rig the vote in favour of the then ruling Jubilee Party. The unrest disrupted business activities and operations across Nairobi’s city centre.

Previously, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) also staged similar weekly protests demanding the disbandment of the Commission, further highlighting the centrality of the issue.

In 2017, the then Starehe MP Charles Njagua proposed that IEBC relocate to Bomas of Kenya, arguing that the frequent demonstrations were hurting CBD businesses. At the time, Chebukati said the Commission was considering both purchasing and constructing a permanent facility to address these disruptions and ensure stable operations.