Voting is underway for the fifth president of Kenya and another 2,000 leaders for various political offices. As many hope the polls end peacefully, they also pray for a decisive victory, which will not only avoid extra expenditure on a rerun but also end the tension and anxiety as soon as possible.
A look at the office bearers scheduled for election in Kenya shows that the grueling campaign and the final election exercise will produce 2,000 leaders, as opposed to about 360,000 leaders for Tanzania and about 1.5 million in Uganda. This, however, is not reflected in the cost of getting these leaders into their respective countries.
For example, Uganda spent about Shillings 618 billion on the 2021 presidential and local government elections, while Local Councils 1 and two cost about another Shillings 90billion. Tanzania, according to figures from the country’s Treasury, spends the least amount, having used Tanzania Shillings 331 billion (UGX 550 billion) on the 2020 general election that brought the late John Magufuli for a second term.
Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, has budgeted for a possible re-rerun of the presidential elections. This was done to avoid a repeat of the shock the Treasury suffered in 2017 when a surprise fresh election was announced following a court ruling. Raila Odinga withdrew from the repeat elections, but the financial damage had already been done and the next government led by Uhuru Kenyatta had to deal with it.
This time around, the public is coughing out Kenyan Shillings 44 billion ( UGX 1.43 trillion) for the whole process, slightly lower than what was finally spent on the two presidential polls in 2017. The re-run cost Kenya Shillings 10 billion (about UGX 350 billion) at that time. While still an acutely higher cost than in any other country in the region, and a little more than twice the Ugandan budget of Shillings 700 billion (including the election of village and parish councils.)
Kenya’s Shillings 1.4 trillion budget is used to elect about 2,000 office bearers while Uganda has to elect 1.5 million people. “The actual conduct of the General Election involves activities of undertaking the election including Presidential run-off should need to arise and the swearing in of the elected leaders,” the Treasury document states.
So who are the 2,000 Kenya leaders being elected?
After the presidency (the president and the deputy president) Kenyans have to elect 349 members of parliament comprising 290 constituency MPs, 47 county women representatives and 12 nominated representatives, two youth representatives, and two representatives of persons with disabilities (PWDs). The second category of office bearers is the senators.
The Senate is made up of representatives of 47 counties and 16 women nominated by the political parties according to their relative strength in the Senate elections, two members to represent the youth, and two members to represent persons with disabilities.
Finally, 1,450 members of the County Assemblies are elected with each assembly size depending on the size and population of the county.There is no other category of leaders to be elected after this. In Tanzania, The President appoints the Vice President. The parliament has 393 members and these include 264 directly elected MPs, 113 women representatives, five from the Zanzibar House of Representatives, one Attorney General, and 10 presidential nominees.
There are also about 330,000 local government leaders comprising 12,028 Village Chairmen, 62,927 Township Chairmen, 4,207 Local Chairmen, 105953 Members from Women groups, and 131,359 directly elected village councilors. Uganda, considered “one of the most representative democracies” has a president who appoints the vice president.
The people also elect 529 MPs, including 353 directly elected representatives and 146 women representing each district. The others are the Special Interest Groups comprising represented by 30 people consisting of 10 from the Army, five youths, five elders, five trade unions, five representatives of PWDs, and five for the elderly.
The next category is the 146 district and city councils led by chairpersons and councilors representing sub-counties, with the number of representatives depending on the side and population of the sub-county. These range from 15 to 35, while city division councils have as many as 70 councilors. Below district councils are municipal and sub-county and division councils which are formed by representatives elected from parishes or wards.
Village councils, which are the largest category are elected from the 70,626 villages and zones and comprise the chairperson and nine executive committee members. Apart from army representatives, all the local council structures take the form of representation almost similar to that of the parliament.
How are grassroots Kenyans governed?
Before the 2010 Kenya constitution, local authorities were universally elected but were considered too powerless and weak. During the International Africities Summit held in Nairobi in September 2006, President Mwai Kibaki promised to strengthen them, but this was not to be and they were abolished by the new constriction.
These were replaced by boards and chiefs who are appointed by the higher administrative units. The Sub-county chiefs, the location chiefs, and sub-location chiefs are public service officers, each manning an area, and not elected by the population.
