IEBC would spend over Sh4b on Jubilee Party's primaries, says ODM

Acting Nakuru County Jubilee Party Coordinator James Karimi addresses a group of women during a party meeting in Naivasha yesterday. [photo: Antony Gitonga/Standard]

Taxpayers could fork out as much as Sh4.4 billion for each political party’s primaries conducted by the electoral agency.

Conducting competitive primaries in a ward for an MCA, MP, woman representative and governor is estimated to cost Sh3,000,000, according to ODM Director of Finance Joshua Kawino.

This brings the total cost of conducting nominations in the 1,450 wards across the country to Sh4.35 billion.

However, the actual cost for one party could be lower because a party is unlikely to hold competitive nominations in all the 1,450 wards, as in some areas contests are unlikely with candidates being handed direct tickets or failing to attract aspirants at all if the party is not popular in the region.

FOOT BILL

President Uhuru Kenyatta and deputy William Ruto’s Jubilee Party has said taxpayers would foot the bill for their primaries and are already engaging the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of the primaries to be conducted early next year.

And assuming all major political parties – ODM, Jubilee Party, Wiper and Amani National Congress– are to field candidates across the country and want IEBC to carry out the exercise, taxpayers would have cough up as high as Sh20 billion for the exercise.

This would be in addition to billions IEBC will spend in managing the August 8, 2017 General Election.

This has sparked an uproar, with those opposed to the idea saying it would be akin to holding two general elections at the expense of the already burdened taxpayer.

Mr Kawino listed election personnel, materials, security, transport, logistics, and communication as very key components in tabulating election cost.

IEBC’s Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba did not give an estimate but said, “The cost is dependent on the number of voters within that ward. Now, we don’t know how many members belong to which party in an electoral area.”

Allies of Opposition leader Raila Odinga, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi have already termed the idea as a scheme to rip the country of its public resources.

ODM Elections Director Junet Mohammed, Wiper Secretary General Hassan Omar, his ANC counterpart Godfrey Osotsi and Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said pushing IEBC to conduct primaries is irregular and would make the next polls very expensive.

The leaders further argued making the electoral body to conduct the exercises would divert the attention of IEBC from planning for the General Election, which could affect the credibility of the polls.

“It is very irregular because the cost would be as much as a general election. It would be like conducting two general elections,” said Mr Mohammed.

“Treasury cannot fund party primaries on the basis that parties are funded by the exchequer. If the intention was to create a fund, the select committee would have clearly provided that funds be provided for under Article 206,” said Mutula Jr.

But Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale defended Jubilee’s resolve to have IEBC carry its nominations.

very expensive

Mr Duale said political parties in the country do not have capacity and structures to conduct primaries and it would be through engaging the electoral body that voters would get their preferred leaders.

He described democracy as “very expensive”, arguing that there is nothing wrong with the National Treasury funding primaries, stating that political outfits are currently funded by the exchequer through the Political Parties Fund.

According to the recommended legal use of Political Parties Funds, the monies are supposed to be used in “covering the election expenses of the political party and the broadcasting of the policies of the political party”.

“We have asked our secretariat to engage the commission and if possible IEBC to give a budget to the National Treasury and the Committee of Budget and Appropriation so that either in the supplementary budget that we expect in the next two weeks or in the budget proposal for 2017-18 financial the National Treasury can factor it in,” said Duale.

He termed as lies claims that this would cost Kenyans a lot of money, explaining that Jubilee would not conduct primaries in all the wards.

“Not all areas would require nominations. Some areas may require consensus or in areas where we would have only one candidate, we would not ask IEBC to carry out nominations,” he said.

“After getting all names of aspirants running on our ticket, we will map the country then tell IEBC where we would want them to conduct our primaries. IEBC will then budget for the exercise and it would be factored in their budget for elections with clear allocation for primaries,” he said.

Duale said the party will not charge its aspirants nomination fees should the commission conduct the exercise.