IEBC decries Sh57.3 billion allocation as inadequate for 2027 General Election
IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan said the commission had initially projected Sh61.7 billion for the polls, but the Treasury reduced the figure to Sh57.3 billion.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has raised concerns that the essential preparations for the 2027 General Election risk being undermined by inadequate funding, following a cut in its original budget.
Appearing before MPs on Thursday, IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan said the commission had initially projected Sh61.7 billion for the polls, but the Treasury reduced the figure to Sh57.3 billion.
More To Read
- 48 per cent of Kenyans have no confidence in IEBC, TIFA poll shows
- TIFA survey: UDA most popular party at 16 per cent, ODM second with 13 per cent
- ODM at 20: Raila’s party invites Ruto, Kalonzo, Mudavadi to grand Mombasa celebrations
- ORPP issues seven conditions to political parties ahead of November by-elections
- IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon says November by-elections crucial credibility test
- Opposition gives IEBC two weeks to release by-election records amid fears of constitutional breaches
“The National Treasury allocated Sh49.75 billion, which is not adequate and translates to a deficit of Sh7.6 billion. The deficit will affect the Commission adversely in conducting the elections,” Marjan said.
IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon announced that the commission will launch a continuous voter registration drive on September 29.
However, he clarified that constituencies where by-elections are underway will only access the service after the polls are concluded.
Commissioner Ann Nderitu said the exercise is geared towards achieving 70 per cent voter registration among Kenyan youth.
“We will mobilise the young people at the grassroots level to register as voters. We will also do the mobilisation online. We have a youth committee which will get to the youth organisations in Kenya. We also have a Gen Z Vice Chair among us,” she said.
IEBC’s Director of Legal Services Chrispine Owiye explained that the commission is targeting 6.3 million new voters by 2027.
“This number has been arrived at by science and population surveys. Voters in East Africa can vote with their ID cards while the rest use their valid passports,” he said.
Owiye added that the electoral body has separated administrative servers from election servers to safeguard credibility.
“We have made a column for stray ballots, which did not exist in the Form 34As in 2022. This is in compliance with the Supreme Court decision of 2022,” he noted, adding that an audit of the voters' register will be carried out eight months before the election.
Even as preparations continue, CEO Marjan raised alarm over the recurrent harassment of IEBC staff during election cycles.
“We have seen our staff being killed every election cycle. You remember the case of (Chris) Msando?” he posed.
Msando, then ICT Manager at the commission, was killed a week before the 2017 elections. An autopsy revealed he had been tortured and strangled, sparking lasting fears within the electoral body.
The commission also lamented that ballot papers cannot yet be printed locally, despite the potential savings.
“The day we will call ourselves as Kenyans and rethink that we can print the ballots at home or even government printer, then that day we will celebrate. But as things stand, we have a trust deficit,” Ethekon said.
He noted that mistrust has forced Kenyan ballot papers to carry more security features than the national currency, making them more expensive to produce.
“One ballot carries more than 11 security features. That’s what trust deficit brings to us,” he said.
In 2022, IEBC disclosed that it cost about Sh23 to print one ballot paper, amounting to Sh3.4 billion for over 120 million papers.
National Assembly’s Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) Chairman Caroli Omondi urged the IEBC to fast-track preparations for the 2027 General Election.
He indicated that Parliament and the commission had agreed to draw up a roadmap that would outline legislative requirements touching on about 13 laws.
“We have also agreed with IEBC to prepare a roadmap as we head to the 2027 elections, among them legislative needs on about 13 laws. Of immediate interest is that IEBC will launch continuous voter registration tomorrow,” he said.
Ethekon explained that the projected 6.3 million new voters is based on National Registration Bureau data, unlike previous reliance on census figures.
“Guided by that data, we are projecting that this number of Kenyans will have attained 18 by then. We hope as they churn IDs, we are registering them as voters,” he said.
On public confidence, he urged Kenyans to trust the commission.
“We understand that there have been challenges before where external interest may infiltrate some of our members to abdicate their roles. When it comes to the presidency, the constitution guides us that its chairman to declare. You pray for me that I will be there to do it, and I will do it,” Ethekon added.
He assured MPs that the agency will follow the Supreme Court’s recommendations to avoid internal divisions during results declaration.
When asked about impeached leaders contesting for political office, Ethekon, a lawyer by training, declined to give a definitive position.
“The beauty about the law and lawyers is that we read, and the law is subject to interpretation. Article 75 will say this, Article 99 will say this, while judicial interpretation will say that. You become a client when you are nominated by the party. For now, it will be premature to pronounce ourselves on impeached persons running for office,” he said.
He described the issue as a constitutional contradiction, saying Article 38 grants political rights to all Kenyans while Chapter Six seeks to bar impeached officials, leaving the commission to act at the appropriate time.
Commissioner Hassan Noor assured MPs that the commission is committed to internal unity and its constitutional mandate.
“The commission does not operate on its own, but because of the climate outside. We have taken an oath of allegiance to the people of Kenya, the constitution and God. We will endeavour to give you the best,” he said.
Vice Chairperson Fahima Abdalla disclosed that IEBC has begun mapping new registration centres.
“The mapping of new registration centres, which some of them will translate to polling centres. We started the mapping two weeks ago, and the process is still going on. We shall be gazetting the registration centres, which are about 24,000,” she said.
Top Stories Today
