Religious leaders in Kenya have now sounded the alarm at the constant calls by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for more funds.
Speaking under the aegis of the Inter-religious Council of Kenya, the leaders said the constant requests by the IEBC with the latest one being the assertion that the 2017 General Election will cost Sh45 billion are puzzling.
The leaders have also raised concern over the amount of money that was used in the recent massive voter registration and now want the polls body to come out and explain the costs.
‘The faith leaders and indeed all Kenyans continue to follow with amazement the constant requests for more funds by the IEBC, the latest being the assertion that the 2017 General Election will cost Sh45 billion. These requests are puzzling, especially considering that the publicly available information indicates that IEBC operations are very high. We take note of the reports that the IEBC was advanced more than Sh560 million to undertake the recent voter registration exercise which reached only 1.4 million voters. This means that it cost Sh400 to register a single voter. We urge the Commission to come out and explain these costs ,’ read part of the statement signed on Thursday.
In addition, the leaders have addressed the issue of voter registration stating the electoral body to publicly clarify the principle voter registration and to also make it public.
‘We the faith leaders take note of the fact that to date, the IEBC has not clarified specifically what it holds as the Principal Voters Register. This is a matter of key concern since during the 2013 General Election and the subsequent by elections, there have been cases of voters whose names and details were found in the Electronic Voter Identification Devices but were not in the manual register and vice versa. The lack of clarity on the voters register has led to cases of voters’ disenfranchisement and this duplicity opens the door for contestation of the results. We call upon the IEBC to publicly clarify which is the Principal Voters Register and make it public,’ added the statement.
The Inter-religious Council of Kenya draws its membership from the Catholic Church under the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops ( KCCB), the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims ), Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, National Council of Churches of Kenya ( NCCK) and Seventh Day Adventist Church among others.