IEBC demands settlement of Sh3.8 billion legal fees

IEBChas made a strong pitch for the settlement of the Sh3.8 billion legal fees, a move that would mean windfall for lawyers engaged in poll petitions.

This is part of the Sh4.987 billion the commission is grappling with from previous elections.

The commission chairman Erastus Ethekon appealed to Parliament to intervene in the legal pending bills dating back to 2013.

The petitions include those arising from party primaries, MPs seats as well as the presidential elections.

In the last general election alone, the electoral commission spent a record Sh1.94 billion to engage lawyers who represented them against very many cases where they were sued or listed as parties.

Part of the Sh1.9 billion spent in the 2022 election includes Sh 569.3 million spent by agency to hire 38 lawyers to defend the commission in the presidential petition filed by then Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga who contested the declaration of William Ruto as president.

The commission also spent Sh 56 million to hire lawyers for the 12 petitions challenging elections of governors across the country.

Some of the counties that had petitions included Kirinyaga, Narok, Garissa, Malindi, Mombasa, Kajiado, Tana River, Nyamira, Busia, Homa Bay and Makueni.

IEBC also spent Sh 9.3 million to defend various petition arising from Senate elections results and another Sh13.9 million for woman representative positions.

Further, the electoral commission spent Sh 13.9 million to defend MCAs seats and a further Sh146.2 million for party lists petitions.

Ethekon, in defending the legal claims, told MPs that acute shortage of in-house lawyers has forced the commission to rely heavily on external counsel resulting into huge bills.

Appearing before MPs during the just concluded legislative retreat for members of the National Assembly, the IEBC boss said the commission’s legal department is severely understaffed, with only four lawyers against hundreds of election-related cases.

He told legislators that the volume and complexity of disputes arising from general elections make it impossible for the small team to cope without outsourcing legal services.

“The commission appeals to Parliament to facilitate expeditious settlement of verified pending bills and to support progressive closure of the 2027 funding gap,” Ethekon said.

“The enumerated challenges arising from the pending bills are consequential to the optimal delivery of our mandate. Adequate, timely and predictable funding for the commission should, therefore, be viewed not merely as expenditure, but as a strategic investment in national stability and democratic continuity.”

Making an appeal to the lawmakers, Ethekon decried reluctance from supplies to engage with IEBC, increased cost of procurement and erosion of the agency’s credibility even as he informed the committee that the same has been submitted to the Pending Bills Verification Committee.

The committee, chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko, received claims amounting to Sh606 billion and only cleared Sh255 billion for payment by various government departments and agencies.

 “The commission has unpaid, audited legal fees exceeding Sh 3.8 billion (from 2013 to date), constraining its ability to engage external counsel for election petitions and disputes,” the IEBC boss said.

“The commission respectfully appeals to the National Assembly to adequately fund and expedite consideration of pending electoral legislation that are required to support timely legal reforms and strengthen electoral governance as well as consider and enact the Election Campaign Financing Law and give the Commission the opportunity to implement the law.”