THE state should fund the electoral commission sufficiently as credible elections are key to national security, the Council of Governors has said.
CoG chairman Peter Munya yesterday said it is the national government’s duty to fund the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Speaking during a press conference with the IEBC in Nairobi, he said next year’s general election should not be mismanaged.
“We must eliminate any indication that the process will not be free,” Munya said.
The electoral agency summoned the county chiefs to share its 2017 Election Operations Plan.
The commission has said it requires Sh30 billion to carry out the election, scheduled for August 8 next year.
Out of the budget, Sh2 billion has been set aside for mass voter registration, which officially starts on Monday countrywide.
However, the National Treasury has offered Sh500 million for the registration, which seeks to add four million voters to the roll.
Kenya has 14.3 million listed voters. The IEBC wants to push this to 25.3 million by next year.
IEBC chairman Isaack Hassan said the commission is not ready to use the biometric voter registration system next year.
This needs a lot of planning and funding to prevent a systems failure like that of the 2013 general election, he said.
