Obadiah Keitany, IEBC Deputy Commission Secretary before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) on February 25th,2025. (Elvis Ogina, Standard)
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) projects that the 2027 General Election will cost the taxpayer Sh61.7 billion.
This estimate was presented by the commission’s Deputy CEO, Obadiah Keitany, before the National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee on Tuesday, February 25.
The funds, if allocated, will cater for new voter registration, replacement of KIEMS kits, conduct pending by-elections, civic education, acquiring new voting material among other emerging needs.
Keitany also outlined a separate budget of Sh480 million for 14 by-elections that are due.
“The Commission projects additional 5.7 million new voters to have a total of 28 million in the 2027 General Election. We have the budget for boundary delimitation of Sh7 billion but we are still waiting for the court advisory,” explained Keitany.
IEBC Director of Finance Osman Ibrahim added that to facilitate upcoming by-elections, the commission will require Sh480 million. A significant portion of the budget will go toward replacing outdated election equipment.
“There will be total replacement of 45, 352 KIEKS kit except for the 14,000 bought in 2022. Total required kits are 59,352. KIEMS kits [automatically] become obsolete after 10 years,” Ibrahim told the MPs.
Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits are electronic devices with a biometric voter registration system used to verify a voter’s identification to curb impersonation.
They also enable presiding officers to transmit results to observation centres through specially configured mobile devices.
The IEBC’s projected election budget has drawn mixed reactions from the public, with some netizens questioning the high costs. Historically, Kenya has been ranked among developing countries with some of the most expensive elections.
In the 2013 General Election, Treasury allocated Sh36 billion to the IEBC, translating to an estimated Sh2,500 per voter. At the time, only 14.4 million Kenyans were registered to vote.
By 2017, the election budget had surged to Sh49.9 billion. In the 2022 polls, the cost dropped slightly to Sh44.6 billion, with a voter base of 22.1 million.
Despite these fluctuations, Kenya has maintained its position among countries with the highest election costs globally.
Comparatively, India—despite its population being 26 times larger than Kenya’s—conducts elections at a much lower cost per voter.
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In its 2014 General Election, it spent the equivalent of Sh65.5 billion, managing 814.5 million registered voters. The cost per voter stood at approximately Sh80.5, a fraction of Kenya’s expenditure.
