Eight by-elections scheduled for November face uncertainty after Kenya’s electoral commission admitted it does not have enough funds to run them.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair, Erastus Ethekon, said the body had only secured money for 16 of the 24 contests planned for 27 November.
“We had a budget for 16 of them. We are engaging in a back and forth with Treasury to provide us with the Ksh.258 million for the eight by-elections,” Mr Ethekon told lawmakers.
The IEBC has put the total cost of the exercise at Ksh.1.046 billion. So far, it has received Ksh.788 million, leaving the disputed shortfall. IEBC chief executive Marjan Hussein Marjan confirmed the figures, noting that taxpayers would shoulder the full cost once Treasury releases the balance.
Lawmakers pressed the commission to explain how it intends to manage the shortfall. “We also want to know as Members of Parliament where you need help or a boost so that we have a free and fair election,” said Tindi Mwale, who chairs the committee.
Mr Ethekon insisted the commission remained committed to delivering credible polls, framing the November contests as a rehearsal for the 2027 general election. “We believe we will give Kenyans a very good by-election as a test run,” he said.
Beyond funding woes, the commission is also eyeing a major expansion of the voter roll. IEBC hopes to add 6.3 million new voters before 2027—about 70 percent of them under 35. That would raise the total register to roughly 29 million, up from 22.5 million in 2022.
But the body has pushed back plans for a constitutionally mandated review of electoral boundaries, citing what it called “technical challenges” and the cost of such an exercise. Some MPs raised concerns about whether the process could be carried out before the next election cycle.
“I know time has lapsed, but it will be important to know whether it will happen before the election or never,” Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda told the committee.
At the commission’s Nairobi headquarters, meanwhile, candidates and their agents rushed to submit names and party symbols ahead of the looming deadline, even as questions lingered over whether all the races will go ahead as planned.
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