IEBC allocate Sh57.3 billion as inadequate for 2027 General Election

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has raised concerns that the essential preparations for the 2027 General Election risk being undermined by inadequate funding, following a cut in its original budget.

Appearing before MPs on Thursday, IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan said the commission had initially projected Sh61.7 billion for the polls, but the Treasury reduced the figure to Sh57.3 billion.

“The National Treasury allocated Sh49.75 billion, which is not adequate and translates to a deficit of Sh7.6 billion. The deficit will affect the Commission adversely in conducting the elections,” Marjan said.IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon announced that the commission will launch a continuous voter registration drive on September 29.

However, he clarified that constituencies where by-elections are underway will only access the service after the polls are concluded.

Commissioner Ann Nderitu said the exercise is geared towards achieving 70 per cent voter registration among Kenyan youth.

“We will mobilise the young people at the grassroots level to register as voters. We will also do the mobilisation online. We have a youth committee which will get to the youth organisations in Kenya. We also have a Gen Z Vice Chair among us,” she said.

IEBC’s Director of Legal Services Chrispine Owiye explained that the commission is targeting 6.3 million new voters by 2027.

“This number has been arrived at by science and population surveys. Voters in East Africa can vote with their ID cards while the rest use their valid passports,” he said.

Owiye added that the electoral body has separated administrative servers from election servers to safeguard credibility.

“We have made a column for stray ballots, which did not exist in the Form 34As in 2022. This is in compliance with the Supreme Court decision of 2022,” he noted, adding that an audit of the voters’ register will be carried out eight months before the election.

Even as preparations continue, CEO Marjan raised alarm over the recurrent harassment of IEBC staff during election cycles.

“We have seen our staff being killed every election cycle. You remember the case of (Chris) Msando?” he posed.

Msando, then ICT Manager at the commission, was killed a week before the 2017 elections. An autopsy revealed he had been tortured and strangled, sparking lasting fears within the electoral body.

The commission also lamented that ballot papers cannot yet be printed locally, despite the potential savings.