Here we go again: Raila calls for removal of elections team

The financing issues surrounding the proposed referendum flared up again yesterday, with ODM leader Raila Odinga taking a swipe at the electoral agency for demanding too much for verification of signatures of the supporters of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum Bill.

Terming their demands as outrageous, Mr Odinga asked commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to pack up and go home.

“We have given them signatures to verify, just four million of them, but they are demanding Sh241 million. Isn’t that rubbish? If they do not want to work, let them go home, we will put a new team to replace them,” he said, but was quick to add that he has no personal problem with anyone at the commission.

The ODM leader made the remarks during the burial of Barnabas Gabuna Ariga in Nyaribari-Chache, Kisii County, perhaps unaware that the IEBC had accepted the Sh93.7 million that the National Treasury was giving for the signature verification.

Read: How will struggling Treasury fund BBI?

The electoral body had written to the National Treasury and requested Sh241 million for signature verification, which according to the commission would have catered for accommodation of personnel undertaking the exercise to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infection and also comply with existing curfew restrictions.

However, the National Treasury was only willing to give Sh93.7 million, which was the lowest budget the commission had submitted, and which excludes accommodation for verification personnel. IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said in a statement yesterday that the commission will “proceed with the verification exercise accordingly”.

Temporary staff

In the letter by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani to IEBC acting CEO Hussein Marjan, the commission will be required to prepare a report on how the money will have been spent within two months of the receipt of the cash.

IEBC has indicated that it will be hiring temporary staff to help with the exercise of verifying that the more than four million signatures that the BBI team submitted are of registered voters.

Read: BBI roots for more county funds, reformed electoral agency

The verification budget has been a contentious subject, with the BBI secretariat and the pro-referendum legislators taking repeated shots at IEBC for allegedly exaggerating it. Co-chair of the BBI national secretariat Dennis Waweru has in the recent past said IEBC is asking for too much money. And on Thursday, a group of pro-BBI legislators led by the Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Amos Kimunya said the budget should be reduced given that the commission would be applying technology in the verification.

“I wish I could get IEBC’s itemised budget to help review the demand. Also, it will be good to compare with the actual amount they spent to verify the Thirdway Alliance signatures,” Mr Kimunya said.

Those who have criticised IEBC over the budget request also argue that the signatures were submitted in both hard and soft copies and the latter should make the commission’s work much easier and faster.

This is the second time in as many weeks that the commission and Mr Odinga are reading from different scripts. After Mr Chebukati told MPs in November that they would require Sh14 billion to conduct a referendum, Mr Odinga brushed the proposal as outrageous, stating that Sh2 billion would be enough.

“The Sh14 billion the IEBC is talking about is not only outrageous but also a manifestation of the institution’s insensitivity to the changes Kenyans are crying for in the management of public affairs,” he said back then.

The statement by the former Prime Minister prompted IEBC into issuing a counter statement defending the proposal for Sh14 billion.

“The Commission considers the statement very unfortunate and lacking objectivity and understanding of the conduct of elections. The estimated figure of Sh14 billion given to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in response to a question by a member of PAC was informed by historical data and previous experience in managing elections in the country,” Mr Chebukati responded.

Seeking clarifications

According to the IEBC chairman, the 2010 referendum cost Sh10 billion and the budget had the approval of Mr Odinga, as Prime Minister at the time, “a fact conveniently forgotten.”

“It is disingenuous for him to cast such aspersions without seeking clarifications from the commission. The proposed referendum is estimated to cost Sh14 billion, having factored in all major cost drivers such as technology, ballot papers, temporary poll officials and security, among others. In addition, the cost of conducting elections under the Covid-19 environment is included,” Mr Chebukati said.

At the burial in Kisii yesterday, Mr Odinga said his main aim is to ensure that BBI goes through so that it can help put Kenya on the right track.

The ODM leader explained that the referendum Bill will only factor in a few proposed amendments in the Constitution. He also narrated the long road it took for President Uhuru Kenyatta and him to meet and begin the BBI journey that has birthed the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2020.

“The BBI is a project that we brought to reconcile the country,” he said, noting that it also spells out how the country will rid itself of tribalism and electoral fraud.

Kisii senator Prof Sam Ongeri and Nyaribari-Masaba MP Ezekiel Machogu, who were present at the burial, asked Mr Odinga to intervene so that Kisii gets a new constituency.

They want IEBC to consider splitting Bobasi constituency during the boundaries review for ease of management.

Bobasi is the largest constituency in Kisii and Nyamira counties, hence the push to split it into two.

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