Strengthen electoral process to minimise the cost of local polls

The National Treasury estimated that the just concluded elections cost the taxpayers Sh43 billion, arguably setting a precedent of being East Africa’s most costly ballot exercise. On a national scale, Kenya’s 19.6 million registered voters will cost the government $25.40 per voter, (About Sh2,500) the highest of any African nation. Nigeria, with nearly 70 million voters, spent $603 million in its 2015 elections, translating into $8.61 per voter while the 2016 Ghanaian elections cost $12 per voter. The Rwandese 2017 elections cost less than a dollar per voter. On a global scale, Kenya ranks only behind Papua New Guinea which spent $63 per voter.

However, these costs do not fairly and accurately capture the true toll of Kenya’s electoral process on the business community and the economy at large. To do so, economic analysts would need to estimate the opportunity costs of lost business and investment opportunities due to the anxieties and anticipation of violence that are often a precursor of any election in Kenya, especially one involving the presidential ballot.