Parliament approval needed for IEBC to fund party nominations, Ezra Chiloba says

The electoral agency on Wednesday declared that it would not mind funding the party primaries if Parliament agreed to allocate resources for the polls.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba told Nation.co.ke that the commission is developing guidelines for party nominations.

“One of the issues to be addressed will be funding of party primaries,” he said.

Mr Chiloba noted that if resources for party nominations are to come from the IEBC, then Parliament has to approve the allocations.

“That is the procedure of spending public money. We hope that we shall have consensus across the board on how to operationalise the provisions on party nominations,” said Mr Chiloba.

He spoke barely a day after the Jubilee Party suggested that the commission finance its nominations.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale on Tuesday said the party would use a lacuna in the law to request the IEBC to factor in its budget funds for the party nominations.

The remarks raised fears that taxpayer money could be used to pay for an exercise normally funded by political parties through fees raised from aspirants for various seats.

Addressing reporters after the campaign team’s meeting at the party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi, Mr Duale said the law is silent about who should pay when a political party requests the IEBC to oversee its nominations.

“Our work is to request the IEBC to oversee Jubilee Party’s nominations, then the commission should present its budget to the National Treasury for funds,” said Mr Duale. “We will approve it if brought to the National Assembly as a supplementary budget.”