MPs delay cash for voter registration

Nairobi: The National Assembly has slowed down the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's (IEBC) ambition to register eight million new voters before the next elections.

The only thing that appears to worry the MPs at the moment is the integrity of transmission of election results from the constituencies, for which they have allocated Sh30 million.

In a report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee tabled in the House yesterday, IEBC has been given the money "to purchase the results transmission and logistics system".

The money will help put all constituencies and polling stations in the Global Positioning System so that IEBC can lock down the number of polling stations early enough.

The MPs' view is that there should be no hurry in giving IEBC the Sh925 million for voter registration in the next financial year because, in any case, Kenyans have a history of registering at the last minute. They want IEBC to allocated the money in the 2016-17 financial year, ahead of the August 14, 2017 elections.

The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee had agreed to give IEBC the money, but was over-ruled by the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  IEBC to ODM: Our hands are tied over deputy governor post
• 
  This is the right time for Kenya to fix its broken electoral system
• 
  Case lifts the lid on sex slavery in 'massage parlours' in the country
• 
  Bill seeks heavy fines or jail term for IEBC officials who bungle poll