IEBC Sh7.5 billion budget hole risks by-elections, polls

Several by-elections and crucial preparations for the 2027 general election are at risk due to a Sh7.5 billion funding shortfall at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

The commission has revealed that by-elections in six electoral areas, along with key pre-2027 activities such as voter registration, public education, technology upgrades and staff training, have stalled due to financial constraints.

Appearing before the Senate Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights committee, the agency’s CEO, Hussein Marjan, painted a dire picture of the IEBC’s financial status.

Marjan warned that continued underfunding and growing pending bills are compromising its constitutional mandate to manage free, fair and credible elections.

The pending bills amount to Sh3.79 billion, including Sh2.10 billion related to legal fees.

“The commission has been allocated Sh788 million to conduct the planned by-elections, which does not include the six new vacancies whose cost is estimated at Sh215.85 million,” Marjan told the commission, chaired by Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei.

The IEBC is currently preparing for 22 pending by-elections, including one senatorial seat, two National Assembly seats and 15 MCA seats across various counties.

According to Marjan, the commission had initially budgeted Sh864.53 million for 16 by-elections.

However, six more vacancies arose after the budget estimates had already been submitted to the National Treasury.

With the Treasury allocating only Sh788million – Sh76.53 million short of the initial request – and the new six by-elections requiring an additional Sh215.85 million, the total funding gap now stands at Sh292.34 million for by-elections alone.

The 2027 general election also faces a major funding crisis.

The IEBC had originally requested Sh61.7 billion, but later revised it down to Sh57.38 billion after consultations with Treasury.

However, the Treasury’s latest directive – Circular No. 5/2025 – capped government spending in line with a Cabinet decision to limit the budget deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP for the 2025-26 financial year.

This realignment resulted in a Sh7.2 billion shortfall in the IEBC’s budget for the 2027 elections.

Marjan stressed the urgency of maintaining and upgrading the electoral technology acquired in 2022, particularly the Biometric Voter Registration system and Kenya Integrated Election Management System kits.

“The commission seeks urgent funding to support technology maintenance and training on the new BVR system,” he said.

“We recommend replacing outdated BVR and Kiems kits with upgraded systems to improve security and efficiency for the 2027 General Election.”

The commission warned that the BVR kits, acquired over 15 years ago, are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

The Kiemskits, supplied by Idemia in 2017, are nearing the end of their service life and may not be reliable by 2027.

“At this point, 45,000Kiems kits will be 10 years old by 2027 and may not perform to the standards of the 2022 election,” Marjan said.

The kits are used not only for electronic voter identification and results transmission but also for continuous voter registration – an activity that has also stalled.

In 2022, the commission procured 14,100 new Kiems kits and accompanying BVR software, but staff have yet to be trained on the new system due to a lack of funding.

“We have not been paying for software support and maintenance and we’ve been unable to conduct the required staff training,” Marjan said.

The commission also reported setbacks in continuous voter registration and education, largely due to funding shortages and the absence of appointed registration officers.

“The conduct of continuous voter education has been hampered throughout the electoral cycle due to insufficient allocation of funds,” Marjan said.

He further noted that the delay in appointing commissioners and registration officers had compounded the issue, bringing continuous voter registration to a standstill.

The commission’s plan to relocate its headquarters from Anniversary Towers in the Nairobi Central Business District has also been hit by underfunding.