Parliament has rejected key budget proposals by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the 2027 General Election, demanding immediate cuts and a scaled-down spending plan.
Members of the National Assembly of Kenya Justice and Legal Affairs Committee directed the electoral body to review its financial estimates, citing the country’s challenging economic conditions and the need to reduce the cost of conducting elections.
The Commission sought an allocation of Ksh 1.5 billion in the 2026/2027 financial year to purchase land for the construction of a new election operations centre. This request drew the attention of Kanduyi MP John Makali.
Makali insisted that the Commission put out their current rent payments so that the committee can examine and assert if the land purchase was necessary.
“One of your requests to the committee is to allocate the Commission Ksh 1.5 billion to fund the purchase of land. I still have a very big issue with this particular request. Maybe I will change my mind once we are told the amount of rent we are currently paying for the offices we occupy, because we are thinking about reducing election costs,” he stated.
Kanduyi MP John Makali Okwisia during a parliamentary committee meeting with
Furthermore, the electoral commissioner proposed Ksh 6.2 billion for the replacement of KIEMS kits, alongside additional funds to upgrade devices used during the 2022 General Election, a request that was questioned by the Rarieda Member of Parliament, Otiende Amollo.
“Can’t we save the Ksh 6 Billion by upgrading what we have?” he questioned the IEBC officials.
Additionally, the Commission requested the committee for funds to upgrade their current vehicles, arguing that the current ones are old and hinder the Commission’s mandate of registering and verifying voters across the country. The Commission also requested the committee for additional funding to replace its ageing fleet, stating that the outdated vehicles are hampering its ability to effectively carry out voter registration and verification nationwide.
“I want to inform this Commission that when we came in, we realised that the Commission is using very old vehicles, and we must be able to move around as a Commission to be able to discharge our duties, including those of voter registration, verification and all others as a Commission,” IEBC Vice Chair Fahima Araphat stated.
Previously, the Commission had highlighted other concerns, one of them being the review of electoral boundaries, which the Commission had officially declared impossible to complete before the 2027 polls.
Under Article 89(4) of the Constitution, any boundary review must be finished at least 12 months before an election, meaning by August 10, 2026. The elections body warned that it now had only about three months for a process that typically takes two years.
This situation was further complicated by a High Court ruling that invalidated the 2019 Census data for 14 constituencies in Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera, with a standing Court of Appeal order maintaining the status quo.
As a result, the Commission cannot legally use this data to determine new population quotas. Because a full review is blocked, the IEBC is adopting a phased approach, meaning many constituencies are likely to go into the 2027 election with outdated and potentially unequal representation.-Kenyans.co.ke.