The Commission, led by Deputy Commission Secretary - Support Services Obadiah Keitany, MBS who represented the Commission Secretary/CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan, MBS appeared before the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Departmental Committee (JLAC) to consider the 2025 Budget Policy Statement.
The budget plan, which is worth Ksh 55 billion funded by the National Treasury, serves as a baseline assumption to be used in the preparation of the 2027 General Election. The budget also shows that the Commission has an overall deficit of Ksh 6.7 billion, with pending bills standing at Ksh 3.827 billion.
“The Commission would like the General Election to be funded over the three Financial Years starting with the 2025/2026 to cater for pre-election activities worth Ksh15.3 billion. The 2026/27 year, the Commission has budgeted for Ksh 25.4 billion while the 2027/28 it has Ksh 21 Billion. The total budget stands at Ksh61.74 billion,” said Keitany.
The Commission projects to register additional 5.7 million new voters, majority being youth who have attained the age of majority.
In preparation of the 2027 General Election, the Commission projects to gazette 55,393 polling stations up from 46,229 in 2022 and procure Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits worth Ksh 7 billion to replace the 45,352 currently in use that were bought in 2017. Only the 14,000 KIEMS kits purchased in 2022 will be retained.
“The KIEMS have been used for 10 years and can be formatted and donated to another government institution for use. Technology has changed fast and we can rely on them now,” Keitany told the Committee.
Keitany noted that the Commission would like the General Election budget to be funded over the three Financial Years starting from 2025/26 to cater for pre-election activities like voter registration and acquisition of the election technology software and hardware.
The DCS also informed the Committee that the Commission is expected to conduct by-elections upon the reconstitution of the Commission and will request separately for resources to conduct the exercise.
Currently, there are 14 vacant positions being Senator (1), Member of National Assembly (4) and Member of County Assembly Ward (9).