Opposition Leader Raila Odinga has rubbished claims that the cost of a referendum is huge and will add an extra burden to the Kenyan taxpayer.
In an interview with Citizen TV, Odinga noted that the cost of referendum and elections are peanuts to the government.
“The expenses for doing those things like a referendum, even election are actually peanuts to the government,” he said.
According to Odinga, in developed nations like the Unites States, it costs less than a dollar per ballot, yet in Kenya it costs seven dollars per ballot. He argues that this cost has been exaggerated, adding that the cost of a ballot should not exceed one dollar, meaning that if there are 20 million registered voters, then the referendum would cost 20 million dollars, which is equivalent to Sh2 billion.
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He further noted that it is for such reasons that he is pushing for the re-organisation of IEBC to bring in a team that can be more efficient in managing elections.
“We are trying to reorganise the IEBC so that we have an IEBC which is responsive to the needs of the country and which can facilitate a transparent electoral process,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum is fast picking pace and could be held in mid-2021.
