The electoral agency now wants Parliament to allocate Sh13 billion in the supplementary budget to meet the shortfall needed to conduct the August 2022 General Election.
The new funding deficit is higher than the Sh7.07 billion that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in June said is needed for preparation of the August 9, 2022, General Election.
The electoral agency now wants Parliament to allocate Sh13 billion in the supplementary budget to meet the shortfall needed to conduct the August 2022 General Election.
The new funding deficit is higher than the Sh7.07 billion that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in June said is needed for preparation of the August 9, 2022, General Election.
In June, the acting chief executive Murjan Hussein Murjan told Parliament that the commission had requested Sh40.085 billion for election preparations but the Treasury only allocated Sh33.013 billion leaving a balance of Sh7.07 billion. He did not give the breakdown of the expenditure.
Yesterday, five IEBC commissioners met the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) to lobby MPs to factor the funding shortfall in the Supplementary Budget that the Treasury intends to table next month.
The meeting followed demands by the National Assembly that the IEBC comes clean on the huge expenditures for next year’s polls.
IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati had on August 9, announced that the commission requires at least Sh40.9 billion to carry out credible elections in 2022.
He said the IEBC needs Sh40.9 billion for the 2022 election expenditure and a Sh588 million to procure Covid-19 items to keep voters safe, making a total of Sh40.917 billion.
“We allocated IEBC Sh10 billion in the last financial year (2019/20) and Sh16 billion in the current financial year. They have come to lobby for the balance of Sh13 billion to be included in the supplementary budget to be released next month,” Kanini Kega said.
Five IEBC commissioners led by newly appointed vice chairperson Juliana Cherera paid a courtesy call to Mr Kega to seek an appointment for a joint session with BAC and the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) to address issues that the commission says need to be ironed out for smooth preparation of the polls.
“They have indicated that there is a funding deficit. We have agreed to have a joint meeting between us and JLAC next week so that IEBC can take us through the details of the budget deficit,” Mr Kega said after a closed-door session.
Prof Abdi Guliye led Ms Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit and Justus Nyang’aya to the meeting with Mr Kega.
The committee said it wants to fast track preparatory works for the next election including ensuring the Treasury releases funds to IEBC to conduct free and fair elections.
“We want to be prepared because the election is not an event but a process that must be done at the right time to ensure a free and fair outcome,” the Kieni MP said.
BAC said the IEBC commissioners had assured it that it has funding for mass voter registration exercise that kicks off on October 4, 2021.
Parliament allocated Sh2.56 billion in the current budget to the IEBC for mass voter registration exercise.
The commission aims to register 25 million voters ahead of the next polls, up from the current 19.6 million.
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