Boundary review set to kick off in 2020

IEBC Commissioner Abdi Yakub Guliye.

Constituencies that did not meet the population criteria in the 2012 boundary review would not be affected in the 2022 General Election.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said it was premature for people to engage in the boundary review debate as the exercise is expected to start in August 2020.

“There is so much talk about boundary review. This is not the legal time, it is premature,” said IEBC Commissioner Abdi Guliye, adding that if the process starts in 2020, it will end in 2024.

Prof Guliye said the delimitation of electoral boundaries will involve broad public hearings and consultations.

He explained that the benchmark for IEBC in getting accurate results for the review is the census data to be collected by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). KNBS Director of Population and Social Statistics, Macdonald Obudho, said they have started preparing for the census set to cost the taxpayer Sh18.5 billion. The population census is to take place from August 25 to August 30, 2019 and the analytical report should be ready by 2020. “We won’t keep Kenyans waiting because by the end of November 2019, we should have a preliminary report ready and the basic one within three months,” he said.

Dr Obudho and his team at KNBS are currently working on a report touching on the pilot census conducted in 12 counties in August. They included Nairobi, Mandera, Kisii, Kisumu, Kwale, Makueni, Kilifi, Nyeri, Kericho, Tharaka-Nithi and West Pokot.

“In the pilot, we are looking at logistics, gadgets, questionnaire and the framing of questions, recruitment of staff and publicity to inform the planning process for the main exercise,” he said.

Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala said his constituency should not be removed because it was among those “inherited” from the colonialists.