The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yesterday said it will cost the taxpayer Sh30 billion to conduct the 2017 general election.
The commission made the disclosure as it rubbished calls by the opposition for the suspension of the month-long mass voter registration exercise that is set to start on February 15.
At a press conference in Naivasha, the IEBC said it had prepared its budget for the next two-and-a-half years and emphasized the funds are urgently needed if the next poll is to be free and fair.
Out of the budget, Sh2 billion has been set aside for the voter registration.
The IEBC ruled out the idea of buying new biometric voter registration kits as demanded by Cord on Monday.
“Financial and political support is a critical element to a credible, free and fair election in 2017. We need financial and political support mainly in the voter registration exercise and for the next general election,” Ezra Chiloba, the IEBC chief executive, said.
The commission was in Naivasha for a retreat with the political parties as part of preparations for the general election.
The commission came up with a first budget of Sh41.5 billion, which they scaled down to Sh35 billion after both the National Assembly and Treasury rejected the proposal.
The Treasury had stuck to an eventual figure of Sh17.5 billion, the cost of the 2013 election.
IEBC chairman Isaak Hassan dismissed Cord’s allegations that the commission was recruiting NIS agents to rig next year’s elections as “reckless and misleading”.
He said lack of funds could affect the mass voter registration exercise scheduled to run between February 4 and March 4, 2016.
He disclosed that the commission has resolved to conduct the registration at ward level due to limited resources and sought to allay fears this will dis-enfranchise regions that are allied to the opposition as Cord had indicated.
“The Treasury only allocated Sh500 million towards voter registration against a budget proposal of Sh2 billion and the commission found it prudent to utilise resources as they become available, rather than wait,” Hassan said.
He said they are targeting a total of 8 million voters in the next two financial years and was optimistic that this could be achieved before August 2017.
“The scale and distribution of BVR is a matter informed by availability of resources. The deployment of the BVR kits is therefore not a premeditated scheme by the commission or out of any external interference as alleged by Cord,” said.
He said the BVR kits acquired in 2012 are enough and the question is not about the number but the workforce and the number of days allocated to the exercise.
He said that the 16,000 BVR kits bought in 2013 were sufficient for the registration.