The National Treasury has disbursed Sh93 million for signature verification to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), setting the stage for a referendum next year.
“They initially requested Sh241 million. But through a meeting this was rationalised,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said yesterday, insisting that the money is sufficient for the exercise.
The money would be used to hire and train clerks who will verify the signatures. This process would take 85 days to complete.
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Yatani revealed this on a day when ODM leader Raila Odinga asked IEBC commissioners to resign to pave way for a new team.
Yesterday, Raila dismissed the electoral commission demands for more money for verification of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill signatures and referendum.
He accused the commissioners of planning to sabotage the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process, saying they continue to earn huge salaries despite not having work to do after elections.
He was speaking in Nyaribari Chache in Kisii during the burial of Barnabas Ariga, a former chief engineer in the Ministry of Roads and Public Works.
Mourning the late Ariga, Raila said the country needs honest and competent leaders and civil servants who can drive the economy to prosperity.
In late October, IEBC acting CEO Hussein Marjan said a referendum would cost the country Sh14 billion, but the demands have been dismissed by BBI proponents.
The ODM leader said the verification of signatures needs little resources and accused the Wafula Chebukati-led commission of mischief.
“They have outrageous demands. The problem with this country is trusting the wrong people with public offices. Let them resign and give us an opportunity to hire a new team that can deliver results,” Raila said.
Last week, the BBI secretariat presented over four million signatures to IEBC saying they had completed an internal verification of the names collected a week earlier in support of the push to amend the 2010 Constitution.
Verification exercise
Raila (pictured) said it is not a must to verify all the four million signatures. “The Punguza Mzigo team gave them 1.5 million signatures and they were able to verify them in one month. They are now demanding more than Sh200 million. This is unacceptable.”
Yesterday, IEBC posted on Twitter that it would proceed with the verification exercise. It explained that to undertake the verification, it needs to hire data entry clerks, conference facilities, accommodation and stationery.
The electoral body said it submitted a budget of Sh241 million to Treasury which then invited it for discussions on cost rationalisation.
