Election agency to spend Sh8b as it kicks off the review of boundaries

National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee Chairman Jeremiah Kioni (R) with IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati (C) and his Vice Consolata Nkatha addressing the media after Committee meeting at Parliament on Thursday. [Photo by Boniface Okendo/Standard]

The electoral agency plans to spend Sh8 billion to review constituency and ward boundaries.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) yesterday said the review process was set to start this month and end in August 2021, a year to the next General Election.

The commissioners yesterday met with the National Assembly’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee to share the road map for the process.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati told the MPs that the expected budget over the four-year period was estimated at Sh8 billion.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) last month raised queries the commission’s ability to carry out the review, with NASA co-principal Musalia Mudavadi claiming it would give Jubilee-dominated zones more electoral areas.

But Mr Chebukati and his team – which is still smarting from a nullified presidential election – said they did not intent to increase or reduce the number of constituencies.

The commission is required to review the names and boundaries of constituencies at intervals of not less than eight years and not more than 12 years, but any review should be completed at least 12 months before a General Election.

Chebukati said the number of constituencies would remain the same since the review would only be about changing the boundaries to ensure population uniformity.

He said the commission would be guided by data to be generated during the 2009 population census to determine the new boundaries.

“We will take the total population and divide it by the number of the current constituencies to determine an average population in each of the 290 constituencies,” explained Chebukati. He said the first step would be to engage the public.

The Andrew Ligale-led boundary review commission conducted the last evaluation in 2010 in a process that was marred by court battles.