The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) now says that the commission lacks enough funds to cater for a rerun during the August elections.
Speaking after a consultative meeting with religious leaders on Tuesday, March 15, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati noted that the commission hopes to have a clear winner at the end.
“We do not have a budget for a re-run. We are not planning for a re-run. We are planning for general elections in August. In case of any eventuality, we will deal with them when they arise,” remarked Chebukati.
However, Chebukati stated that the commission is well prepared to manage the upcoming General Election, having completed 90% of procurement of voting materials such as ballot papers.
The IEBC boss further noted that civic education this time round is low, due to budgetary constraints.
“As a commission we only got the election budget this year and we have done what we can with it even though we had a deficit. However, we have two civic educators in every ward,” he stated.
Analysts however fear that IEBC’s decision to overlook the current lack of funds might end up costing them in the case where they will be rerun.
Speaking on KTN’s Morning Prime, Director of the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies, Dr. Hassan Khannenje, said it is important for the commission to prepare for such occurrences whether in parliamentary or general elections.
“It is shocking that that did not come to fall early on, considering just how delicate the situation was in 2017, and for us to wake up on August 10th in the same situation will be very challenging,” explained Khannenje.
A run-off can either occur if there is no clear winner in the election or, if none of the candidates achieve the required threshold to be declared winners, that is, 50%-1 of the votes cast.
Chebukati appealed to stakeholders to work together with the commission ro achieve its constitutional mandate during the August 9 polls.
The meeting was attended by various religious organizations including National Council of Churches in Kenya, The National Muslim Leaders Forum and The Hindu Council of Kenya among others.
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