IEBC in the spot over Sh74 billion election budget

Lawmakers have criticised a proposal by IEBC to increase the 2027 general election budget by a staggering Sh13.1 billion.

This is after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yesterday presented a revised budgetary requirement of Sh78.4 billion to conduct the polls, despite earlier seeking an allocation of Sh61.7 billion as captured in the Budget Policy Statement.

The revelation came on a day that lawmakers sitting in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) also heard that the Erastus Ethekon-led Commission is intent on purchasing 60,000 new KIEMS Kits to be used in the forthcoming elections, premised on the fact that the current 45,000 kits had been rendered obsolete and there was a need to replace them.

MPs, however, accused the Commission of turning its budget into a moving target and directed it to re-examine its demand and come up with irreducible minimums that must be funded.

According to data presented by IEBC, the Commission will now require a total of Sh78.4 billion for the 2027 general election, but it is currently grappling with a Sh33.4 billion shortfall after the National Treasury only allocated Sh41.3 billion for the 2026/27 financial year.

 A budget breakdown presented by Deputy Commission Secretary - Support Services, Obadiah Keitany, shows that top expenses include Sh10.7 billion on KIEMS kits, Sh7.6 billion on biometric verification, inspection and register maintenance, Sh4.8 billion on the purchase of election materials and logistics, Sh1.23 billion on security and clerks, Sh3.5 billion on field mobility and a further Sh6.8 billion on the purchase of ballot papers.

Others include Sh268.2 million on Human capital development, Sh1.7 billion on staff welfare, Sh294 million on fleet maintenance services, Sh438 million on the purchase of motor vehicles, Sh2.6 billion on public communication and a further Sh2.6 billion on citizen engagement Sh2.6 billion. A further Sh1.1 billion will go towards the election conference, among others.

 “The commission appeals that the committee considers funding the shortfall of Sh33.4 billion to ensure that there is effective implementation of our programmes,” said Keitany.

The lawmakers were, however, critical of the electoral agency’s priorities, questioning the budgetary increment while simultaneously pointing out what they termed as duplication of allocations across the various vote heads.

“From your presentation, it seems that the budget has now become a moving target. The last time you were before Parliament, you were asking for Sh61.7 billion, but now you seek Sh74 billion. Is it that you are trying to throw taxpayers under the bus? What has changed since then?” posed Wajir MP Mohammed Daudi.

Committee Chairperson George Murugara was appalled by the seeming duplication of allocations

“You have items such as a budgetary requirement for results transmission, and after election evaluation, while there is the electoral management system that you are going to acquire, which is supposed to take care of all this. Don’t you think these items are cross-cutting and there is therefore an element of double counting?” questioned Murugara.

Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo poked holes into a Sh10.7 billion allocation required for the purchase of new KIEMS kits, noting that the commission had yet to present a report proving the current ones were indeed obsolete and justify the need for a fresh purchase. He also sought to understand why the commission had sought funding to handle disputes despite an earlier agreement between the two parties that the same would be handled by the Judiciary through the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT).

Kanduyi MP John Makali poked holes into the commission’s plan to increase the number of voter registration centres abroad from the current 18 to 55.

“Have you identified these areas that will serve as voter registration centres and what efforts have you made to ensure you get stakeholder support?” asked Makali.

In its response, IEBC cited the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR), an increase in the number of registered voters, a plan to expand the voter registration to other countries and mounting operational costs as reasons for the Sh13 billion budgetary increase.

“I can assure you that the items stated are not duplicated and relate to each other. Technical areas are some of the cost drivers in the budget. For instance, we have requested an additional Sh700 million because we want to hold the second round of ECVR. The funds will go towards increasing the number of clerks, logistics and transport as well as the processing of data,” submitted Commissioner Anne Nderitu.

Commissioner Francis Aduol was also quick to note that the number of polling stations would be increased to 55,000 from a previous 46,000 in the 2022 general elections, hence the budgetary increase.

“We estimate that the number of registered voters will be 28.5 million in 2027 compared to 22.1 million in 2022. You also need to understand that even though the number of stations will increase, the number of voters has also increased,” said Aduol.

And to justify the need for procuring new KIEMS kits, he pointed out that the current 45,000 kits were obsolete, given that they were more than 10 years old and risked failure during the forthcoming elections.

“Any kit that fails during the elections will be a serious challenge for the commission. If we move forward, we will not procure the kits from Smartmatic but open up the process to open tendering… we aim to get election kits that will serve us for the next three to four cycles,” remarked Aduol.

The House team, however, emphasised the Commission’s need to adhere to the set timelines to forestall any delays in conducting the 2027 elections.

“We are really tied as a commission but if we had it our way, we would be going out tomorrow with tenders…we are working to ensure that everything is ready by at least 60 days to the elections,” added Aduol.