IEBC's Sh 35b price tag for next elections

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Thursday told MPs that it had trimmed its initial budget for the next General Election from Sh 41.4 billion to Sh 35 billion.

The Commission insists the reviewed Sh 35 billion cost will be the bare minimum needed to conduct the General Election and a possible presidential run-off.

Issack Hassan, the chairman of the IEBC and the Chief Executive James Oswago, told the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee at Nairobi’s County Hall on Thursday that their initial request to the Treasury was Sh41.4 billion.

Treasury however reduced the requested amount by more than half when it earmarked Sh17.5 billion to IEBC for the next General Election.

They lamented that Treasury had cut down their budget without getting back to the IEBC on why it had sought the huge amount.

“A presidential re-run is as good as a General Election. The minimum that we feel we really need now is Sh 35 billion,” said Mr Oswago.

They said that the huge budget was to cater for the second round of the elections, which most opinion polls in recent weeks have predicted.

A second round of the presidential polls will arise if none of the contenders raises the 50 per cent plus one, the majority required to assume leadership of the country.

Mr Hassan and Mr Oswago said the bulk of the money would go into voter registration, which is essentially a one-off expense, because, they are out to clean up the register.

“We have prepared ourselves for a run-off, which is like another General Election. The Budget of the election might look big, but if there’s no run-off, the country actually saves,” said Mr Hassan.

The IEBC team disowned the Cabinet brief sent to newsrooms last week which read: “Cabinet recommended that the IEBC be allocated the full 17.5 billion shillings it has requested in order to ensure a smooth, credible, peaceful, free and fair election”.

“Sometimes it is good to give the professionals the benefit of the doubt,” said Mr Oswago.

They were piqued that the Treasury had insisted on 23,000 polling stations, meaning that it will take longer for the people to vote and is likely to push the IEBC to hold elections over two or three days.

“I don’t know if Kenyans will accept that. In Sudan, they were voting for nine seats (Kenya is voting for six seats), they did it for three days,” said Mr Hassan.

Mr Hassan said the Cabinet meeting approved the budget presented to it by the Treasury, and not what the commission had presented to the Treasury.

“The Cabinet brief did not quote the commission, neither was the commission called for comment.,” said Mr Hassan.

Mr Hassan said the Cabinet meeting approved the budget presented to it by the Treasury, and not what the commission had presented to the Treasury.

"Sometimes it is good to give the professionals the benefit of the doubt,” said Mr Oswago.