The Emurua Dikirr by-election will cost taxpayers Sh59 million, documents tabled by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in Parliament show.
The electoral agency has asked the National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) to allocate Sh59, 375,491 in the supplementary budget II under the financial year 2025/26 for the Emurua Dikirr by-election.
The agency acting Chief Executive Officer Moses Sunkuli, in a session with the committee on Wednesday, told the lawmakers that the commission has not included the by-election budget among its requests in the supplementary budget I currently under consideration by the National Assembly because it is yet to receive a writ from Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.
“The commission is yet to receive a writ for Emurua Dikirr, Member of the National Assembly. However, the commission has prepared a budget estimate of Sh59, 375, 491, which is not part of the supplementary I estimates,” Mr Sunkuli told the committee.
Ng’eno perished alongside Robert Kipkoech Keter, Amos Kimwetich Rotich, Nicholas Kosgei and Wycliffe Kiprotich Rono, as well as the pilot, retired Colonel George Were.
The six boarded an Airbus H125, registration 5Y-DSB, a light single-engine helicopter widely used by VIP and aerial operations but the helicopter crashed and burst into flames at Chepkieb Forest.
Former Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament the late Johana Ng'eno
Photo credit: File | Nation
Writs are written legal documents that authorise the holding of a by-election by the Speaker of Parliament.
Under the Constitution, a parliamentary seat falls vacant upon the demise, resignation or expulsion of a sitting member.
The speaker is then required to issue a vacancy notice within 21 days of the event, which will prompt the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to trigger by-election procedures.
The Emurua Dikirr Sh59 million request for a single by-election has now joined the list of other areas where IEBC used millions for the exercise, raising questions on the cost of conducting elections in the country.
In the Elgeyo Marakwet by-election, for instance, the electoral commission used Sh143 million following the appointment of Senator Kipchumba Murkomen as Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary on September 26, 2022.
Similar appointments of Aden Duale and Alice Wahome also led to by-elections in Kandara and Garissa Town, costing taxpayers Sh49 million and Sh44 million, respectively.
The commission also used over Sh100 million in the Ugunja and Mbeere North by-elections, which were occasioned by the appointments of Opiyo Wandayi and Geoffrey Ruku to the Cabinet.
For the 2027 General Elections, the commission has made a budgetary request of Sh63 billion to parliament to enable it to conduct free, fair and transparent elections.
This figure has, however, been rejected by the committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, which has told the commission that only Sh41 billion is available for the exercise.
The committee told the electoral commission to harmonise its plans and present another request with the Sh41 billion as the budget. The two entities are yet to agree on the figure.
The commission has, however, warned that without the Sh63 billion, critical areas that will be affected by the budget cut include the purchase of ballot papers, which require Sh4.6 billion, election materials (Sh2 billion), election security arrangements (Sh0.9 billion), among other areas.
