MPs on Thursday clashed in the National Assembly over proposed changes to election laws.
The debate exposed deep divisions over the cost of elections, the number of voters per polling station, education requirements for candidates and the recall of MPs.
The exchange was centred on the Elections (Amendment) (No 2) Bill (Senate Bill No 29 of 2024), a consensus Bill arising from the National Dialogue Committee (Nadco) process.
The Bill proposes changes to the management of elections, including amendments to voter registration, results transmission, candidate qualifications and the conduct of elections.
Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chairman Gitonga Murugara said the Bill was the product of extensive public consultations and consensus-building following a parliamentary resolution in 2023.
Seconding the motion, National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah said the Bill seeks to strengthen the transmission and declaration of election results.
He said results declared at polling stations, as provided for in the constitution, should remain the final results.
“The IEBC has an obligation to conduct free, fair and credible elections. This House must facilitate the IEBC by ensuring necessary amendments are made,” Ichung’wah said.
He said political parties must also ensure free and fair nominations, indicating he would propose an amendment to improve transparency in the nomination process.
But debate on the Bill quickly turned contentious, particularly over proposed amendments by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
One of the most divisive proposals is the increase of the maximum number of registered voters per polling station from 700 to 1,000.
The committee said the increase would help reduce the cost of elections, as proposed by the IEBC, while removing the lower limit of 50 voters would allow the commission to cater for far-flung areas with unique needs.
Kesses MP Julius Rutto opposed the proposal, describing it as ‘very insensitive’.
He said the social and geographical circumstances required flexibility in determining the number of voters served by a polling station.
“We need to appreciate the fact that our society is unique. Whether in terms of family setup, religious setup, and so on, we need to accommodate these unique challenges,” Rutto said.
Molo MP Kuria Kimani, however, shifted the debate to the cost of elections, questioning why Kenya spends about Sh2,600 for every vote.
“In 2022, it was approximately Sh2,600 per vote. How does that compare with other jurisdictions? In South Africa, it costs four times more in Kenya than it does in South Africa. At the same cost as one vote in Kenya, four votes could be cast in South Africa,” he said.
Kimani questioned why the country should spend so much on an election, arguing the money could be directed to other priorities.
He also questioned the cost of ballot papers, saying an A4-sized ballot paper should not cost anything close to Sh2,600.
He compared the cost with the Sh6.84 reportedly spent to print a banknote with security features.
Ichung’wah joined the debate, saying the country’s elections are among the most heavily policed and monitored because of a lack of trust among political players.
“I have been on an observer mission in the US and the UK, and you realise that the most heavily policed or monitored elections you will ever find anywhere in the world are in Kenya, because we lack trust in each other,” he said.
The legislator said the IEBC would be the biggest spender in the next national budget because of the elections, raising questions about the value generated by such expenditure.
The commission estimates the next year’s election could cost more than Sh60 billion.
Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda said some of the proposals would increase expenditure at polling stations.
He, however, welcomed the proposal for continuous inspection of the voters’ register.
“One thing that I think is important and very good in the amendment is the issue of continuous voter register inspection,” Ochanda said.
The committee has also proposed changes to the definition of a political party.
The committee said the existing legal definition is comprehensive and also covers coalition political parties.
On voter registration during a by-election, the committee proposed deleting a proposed new section.
Under the proposal, a person who registers as a voter while registration is suspended for a by-election would not be eligible to contest in the electoral area affected by that by-election.
The committee said Section 26, which deals with additional disqualifications for registration of candidates, was the appropriate place for the provision.
The committee has also proposed making it mandatory for the IEBC to rectify a voter's particulars where an error is identified during inspection of the register.
The amendment replaces the word ‘revise’ with ‘rectify’ to make clear the commission has an obligation to correct errors identified by voters.
Another contentious issue is the removal of education requirements for candidates seeking election as MPs and MCAs.
The committee proposed deleting clauses which introduced educational requirements for candidates.
It said the provisions had been declared unconstitutional by the High Court.
But Baringo Woman Representative Jematiah Sergon opposed the removal of the requirements, arguing that literacy was an important component of leadership.
“This is putting a rope around our necks and killing the importance of education. We already have problems in the counties today. Literacy level is a very integral component of leadership, and it is one of the reasons we have problems in executing policies,” she said.
Ugenya MP David Ochieng also opposed the removal, arguing that Parliament was sometimes affected by a lack of capacity.
“Sometimes we are judged harshly, and it's because we run a Parliament where even someone who did not go to Class 1 can gain access. It is wrong. You can't run a Parliament where everyone can just walk in. Across the border in Uganda, for every seat, including that of an MP, you must have A-levels,” he said.
The committee has also proposed deleting clauses that would effectively remove the existing recall mechanism for MPs.
The committee said the grounds for recalling an MP introduced by the Senate would be difficult to measure and the issue could instead be dealt with through separate legislation.
On independent candidates, the committee proposed limiting the resemblance of an independent candidate's symbol to that of another independent candidate within the same county or to a political party symbol.
It said the amendment would correct an error in the cross-reference and restrict resemblance to candidates within the same county.
The committee also proposed deleting the provisions which required the IEBC to ensure election information is available in accessible formats for persons with disabilities.
It said the mandatory provision could create implementation challenges and that persons requiring information could instead request it in a particular format.
On the post-election review, the committee proposed changing the period for completing an evaluation of the elections from one year to 18 months.
The question of whether holders of expired passports should be allowed to vote also drew mixed views.
One MP argued that possession of a passport was evidence of Kenyan citizenship and voters who had failed to renew their passports because of economic difficulties should not automatically be denied the right to vote.
Kinangop MP Kwenya Thuku, drawing on his banking background, questioned why Kenyans trust financial systems but remain suspicious of the electoral system.
“You trust the system that you use every day to transact your money, to support yourself and your family, but we cannot trust that we can conduct an election that is transparent. We want to spend money to print an A4 sheet of paper,” he said.
Thuku described the Sh50 billion spent on the electoral process as “self-defeating and painful”.
Ochieng also questioned the timing of the proposed changes, saying electoral laws were often amended towards the end of a parliamentary term.
“There's nothing that we didn't know we might need to change in 2022, 2023, 2024, or even 2025. Why must the IEBC wait until the tail end of a Parliament to bring these amendments? The amendments might be good, but people might read sinister motives into them,” he said.
