Raila: Referendum need not cost more than Ksh 2billion, we can teach Chebukati how to do it.

ODM Leader Raila Odinga has on Thurday rubbished claims that the country can not be able to conduct a referendum due to the cost. Speaking at ODM Headquarters, Orange House Nairobi, the former Prime Minister said that

”A referendum does not have to cost billions. Ask the British.” He also went on to say, ”It is because of corruption in this country that elections have become too expensive. In the United States, the cost of elections is 40 US cents per ballot. In Europe, the cost varies between 30 cents to 50 cents and sometimes up to 60 cents per ballot. If we take ours even at 50 cents and we are 20 million registered voters, our cost will be 10 million dollars which translates to Ksh 1 billion. Yet here it costs us over Ksh 40 billion to conduct an election. Even in the presidential repeat election where no new ballot papers were printed, we spent another Ksh 10 billion. That was basically stealing. A referendum does not need to cost more than Ksh 2 billion shillings. So we do not need to be told that there is no money to conduct the elections. There is money to do it and we can teach Chebukati how to do it.”

Odinga said that there was need for the country to conduct a referendum in order to cure the political and electoral ills that have plagued the nation since independence. He indicated that ‘reggae did not stop (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) but that it went on half time. ”The players have been getting massages and receiving instructions from the coaches, and we have been doing an overhaul. So, shortly reggae is going to be back. Nobody can stop reggae.”