Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) yesterday asked the National Treasury to allocate Ksh61 billion to efficiently conduct the 2027 polls.

The amount will be Ksh20 billion more than what was spent in the 2022 polls where the electoral agency spent Ksh41 billion to conduct the polls. 

In addition, the electoral agency has come up with a pre-registration module that will now allow those who wish to register as voters to make a pre-registration request using an online platform.

IEBC deputy chief executive officer Ruth Kulundu decried the lack of funds from the exchequer, adding that the commission is unable to fund some of the programs.

Speaking during a roundtable meeting with the European Union Elections Follow-Up Mission yesterday, Kulundu was categorical that the government has failed to establish an Elections Fund that will give the commission monetary independence.

No funds yet

“The IEBC has been marked for a fund but the fund has not been operationalized. If this fund was in place, it would be easy for us to perform our functions and conduct our activities. The National Treasury only starts allocating money either in the year of the election or the last year to elections,” said Kulundu.

Kulundu further disclosed that out of the proposed Ksh61 billion for the 2027 elections, the printing of ballot papers alone will cost taxpayers Sh11 billion while the rest will go into the use of technology and operational activities of the commission.

The revelation came after European Union Ambassador Henriette Geiger questioned why Kenya’s elections is expensive and what could be done to reduce the cost of the polls.

According to Geiger, Kenya’s election is the second most expensive in the world, questioning why the country spends so much money to conduct its polls.

“We have spent some time with IEBC and asked them why the elections are very expensive. They told us that because of trust, ballot papers must be printed outside the country because of lack of trust,” said Geiger.

Massive investment

However, Electoral Law and Governance Institute for Africa (ELGIA) Executive Director Felix Odhiambo charged that the massive investment in technology and corruption has contributed to the high cost of elections.

“Trust deficit partially explains why our elections are expensive. Corruption is a major factor in making the elections expensive. Why is it that the cost of ballot papers in Ghana is more less than ours yet they have almost the same population and registered voters?” posed Odhiambo.

He went on: “The corruption is mainly on major procurement of electoral materials in Kenya. There is so much vested interest from forces outside IEBC. The 2027 election will be expensive because the commission will have to procure new election technology because the ones used last time will be obsolete by 2027.”

Odhiambo said technology was introduced in the Kenya’s elections to achieve efficient, faster and transparency in the results transmission.

The Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) is used to register voters, identify voters during elections, capture candidates information and transmit results to the constituency, county and national tallying centre.

In the last election, the electoral body deployed some 55,100 KIEMS kits in all the polling stations across the country.

“The Electronic Results Display System which is a component of the KIEMS kit did not work in 2022. There is need to improve the efficiency of the component in the subsequent elections,” said Odhiambo.

Pre-registration online

Kulundu said the electoral commission secretariat had come up with a module on the pre-registration of potential voters online.

This she argued would reduce the long queues witnessed during voter registration since a person registers online when he or she visits the Constituency office in person.

“We have come up with a module that we hope the new commissioners will adopt on the pre-registration of voters. We will use a pre-register. You only go to the office at a convenient time,” said Kulundu.

She further explained that the continuous voter registration was stopped in May 2022 and was to be re-opened in March 2023, however there has been no commissioners in office since the term of Wafula Chebukati, Boya Molu and Prof Abdi Guliye came to an end in January 2023.

“We stopped voter registration in May 2022 and it was to be reopened in March 2023. We have not had commissioners since then. We need the commissioners in place to carry out the voter registration so that if there is anything that requires policy change, they will do it,” she explained.

Kulundu disclosed that they have already asked parliament to amend the election law to accommodate some Kenyan to allow them vote early during the election day.

She explained that on the day of the general elections, the commission employs at least 500,000 eligible voters but are unable to vote because of the nature of their work.

“We have asked parliament to amend the law so that some people can vote early during the General Election. In the last election, we deployed some 500,000 people. In the last election, the difference between the winner and the second person in the Presidential elections was only 200,000. The 500,000 can make a big difference in the election.”

National Registration Bureau of Registration Director Aggrey Masai on his part disclosed that the bureau has so far issued more than three million new Identity Cards from September last year upto January 31.

“We issue IDs on a daily basis. Since September, the bureau has issued more than three million IDs. We have reduced the timelines to issue the IDs. At the County Headquarters, it only takes seven days,” said Masai. By Rawlings Otieno, People Daily