On Thursday, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) disclosed some intriguing details about how they arrived at a budget estimate of Ksh61 billion for the 2027 elections.
Crispin Owiye, the commission’s legal director, clarified that political unrest and mistrust in the nation were major contributors to the extravagant budget.
“On the cost of elections, the Commission presented a budget of KSh 61 billion,” Owiye said, explaining how trust—or lack thereof—inflated the budget during the mid-cycle review of the progress of electoral reforms towards the 2027 General Elections. The lack of trust among Kenyans is the reason for the high spending.
“We have a ballot paper with seven security features,” he continued. There must be a fee associated with providing those features.
The attorney went on to say that although Kenya was capable of creating trustworthy election materials, mistrust from local political groups made it necessary to outsource voting papers to foreign companies, which was a much more expensive option.
“No political organization will accept a plan to print that ballot paper nationwide in order to obtain it. They demand a worldwide tender, which is quite expensive.
Owiye also provided a breakdown of the Ksh3.82 billion allotted for transportation needs, including the purchase and rental of automobiles. The senior lawyer claimed that political factions’ reluctance to allow the commission to request transportation resources from the government was the reason for the large expenditure.
Owiyo also acknowledged that the IEBC was at a disadvantage when it sought out private transportation services because private contractors saw the commission’s need to have a free and fair election and raised the cost of services like car rentals.
In the lead-up to and during the elections, an IEBC vehicle should ideally be present at every polling place nationwide.
The purchase of 45,000 new KIEMS kits, which are essential for biometric voter identification and verification, will cost about KSh 7.04 billion, according to the commission’s budget estimate.
Additionally, IEBC intends to set aside KSh 15.6 billion for election officials’ compensation, which includes hiring and training more than 500,000 temporary employees. Owiye stated that since no one “is willing to work for free out of patriotism,” there would always be a huge demand for human resources.
