IEBC seeks Ksh11.83Bn for repeat presidential poll

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission seeks Ksh11.83Bn for the October 17 repeat presidential poll which they have asked the Treasury to expeditiously consider.

The draft budget is 0.14 percent of the estimated FY17/18 GDP and will be the first order of business when the 12th bicameral House is re-opened on Tuesday September 12th, 2017 (tomorrow).

KSH 2.39Bn will be spent to pay 217,624 temporary staff in the poll while Ksh 1.49Bn for technology enhancement. The draft budget is in addition to Ksh 19.11Bn already allocated in FY17/18 to the electoral agency.

Wafula Chebukati, the IEBC chair on Friday he said, “The Commission has prepared timelines with key milestones leading to the election. The milestones include a revised election results framework, certification of the register of voters, upgraded technology for election, recruitment, training and deployment, voter education and Election Day operations, among others.”

Chebukati  also urged the candidates to ensure their agents are well versed with technology to be used and finalize the list of the agents for the polling stations, constituency and the national tallying centre and submit the same to the respective offices before Oct. 3.
“It is crucial for candidates to deploy experienced and committed agents to all parts of the country to enhance accountability and transparency during the electoral process.”

A draft bill, the County Governments (Revenue Raising Regulation Process) Bill, 2017, will require counties to submit tax proposals to National Treasury and Commission on Revenue allocation ten months ahead of any financial year to discourage arbitrary local effects by county governments.

The Bill gives effect to the requirement under Article 209 (5) of the Constitution by defining manner in which the national government may exercise its oversight role and establish the process where county governments may exercise their taxation authority.

The draft national policy to support enhancement of county governments own-sourced revenue has singled out eight counties (Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Narok, Nakuru, Kisumu, Machakos and Nyeri) to contract Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for revenue collection.

This proposal is hinged as they are more urban with large formal sectors. We view this positively as it will be able to tie the revenue slippages at the county level.

Data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) indicate that revenue collection at the counties for the first nine months of FY16/17 settled at KES 24.71Bn; 41.4 percent of the annual KES 59.71Bn target. 

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