IEBC needs Sh2b for voter registration

IEBC CEO Mr Ezra Chiloba. He said the electoral commission needs Sh2 billion to register at least four million new voters. FILE PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He said the commission will soon give periodical reports on continuous voter registration that has been going on around the country.
  • He said the commission will use the available resources to register voters.

The electoral commission needs Sh2 billion to register at least eight million new voters before the 2017 general elections.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer Dr Ezra Chiloba however said they have Sh500 million to conduct the exercise beginning November.

“What we need is to conduct proper voter registration that will enable all the eight million potential voters to be factored in but we have adequate funds, “Dr Chiloba told the Nation.

He said the commission will use the available resources to register voters.

“We tentatively plan to initiate the exercise countrywide from November and continue through to December,” said Mr Chiloba.

The IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan said they will conduct the voter registration in all the 1,450 wards.

“We want to make sure most (unregistered voters) are captured using the resources that we have," he said.

He said the commission will soon publish a report on the number of voters registered so far as the exercise has been going on in their offices countrywide.

“The continuous registration has been going on in all our constituency offices in the 290 constituencies in Kenya,” he said.