With a budget of Sh44.6 billion, Kenya’s August 9th general election will be among the most expensive in the world.
This means that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will spend approximately Sh2,000 for each of the 22,120,258 registered voters who are expected to participate in the upcoming elections.
Earlier this month, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said the cost of printing a single ballot paper is about Sh23, inclusive of value-added tax (VAT).
Greek company Inform P Lykos Holdings SA was awarded a Sh3.49 billion tender by IEBC to print and ship at least 120 million ballot papers, registration of voters and election declaration forms, among other items, ahead of the August 9th elections.
Sourcing election materials from abroad is one of the main reasons why Kenyan elections are expensive. The country spent Sh49.9 billion in the 2017 election, with Sh3.8 billion going towards security alone during nominations and the elections. The cost of this year’s election has reduced slightly as most of the equipment used during the 2017 election will still be used.
“Our problems have everything to do with an expensive legal framework and a lack of confidence in our systems and people,” Mule Musau, the National Coordinator for the Elections Observation Group (ELOG), said last year.
“Unlike countries like India with only three commissioners, we have seven. We are also seeing the introduction of ballot papers with security features. That kind of thing is expensive.”
Rwanda had the most cost-effective election in East Africa after spending Sh761.7 million for its 6.8 million voters in 2017, translating to about Sh112 per voter on average.
Uganda spent an average of Sh1,400 per voter during last year’s election while in Zambia, the exercise cost approximately 600 per voter. Nigeria, which has 100 million registered voters, will spend an average of Sh1,000 per voter in the upcoming elections.
With the world’s largest number of voters (910.5 million), India spent an average of Sh1,000 for every voter, while the UK spent an average of Sh480 per voter in the country’s last two elections.
Perils of investing in…
Perils of investing in democracy instead of humans. China is a super power without democracy..harooo
Nonsense, poor leadership…
Nonsense, poor leadership with vision presidential ballot should be simple even use exercise books za 320 pages mark your candidate count before 7pm give us results.. with your agents keeping an eye..water mark is silly and waste of meager resources at hand
I hope hungry billionaire…
I hope hungry billionaire Kenyans won’t complain about the cost(shs 45b) as they will be electing new or recycling old elite thugs to continue EATING shs 2b.daily.Chebukati and Mule should have confirmed that majambazi Wanjigi and Murathe were paid shs 6.7b. illegal brokerage fee.
I still don’t understand why…
I still don’t understand why at every election we have to outsource the printing of our ballot forms. Like I said somewhere else, if we can print our money here,certainly we can print our ballot papers here,and would be cheaper.Right?
“Our problems have everything to do with an expensive legal framework and a lack of confidence in our systems and people,” Mule Musau, the National Coordinator for the Elections Observation Group (ELOG), said last year.How do we fix this?
Trust issues is the main…
Trust issues is the main problem. If ruto is hiring Venezuelans to steal the elections, just think what will happen if the ballots were printed in River Road.
@Zac, noted.How about last…
@Zac, noted.How about last part of my question,any suggestion?
Chebukati and Arap Mashamba…
Chebukati and Arap Mashamba can perhaps explain what happened. Some of the equipment aka SERVERS were found in his office. Perhaps each was a “billion shillings” according to them…and you wonder how many eggs Arap Mashamba has sold to afford the fleet of planes.
It’s expensive bcoz one…
It’s expensive bcoz one idiot always refuse to admit he has lost elections.He will create chaos aslong as he doesn’t win.He is the only problem in our Kenyan politics but hopefully this is the last time the idiot will disappear completely from our Kenyan politics.We print our moneys in kenya so why not print the ballots???Oooh how I pray this idiot don’t win if truly Gods exist he should not let this Hullabaloo useless inhuman idiot loose for the last time.
It’s based on trust issues…
It’s based on trust issues and corruption. Poll rigging didn’t start yesterday, it will be there until the masses have had enough.
Moi rigged himself in several times, but folks got tired.
Sh44.6 billion,while millions are going to sleep hungry.