Maraga-led coalition wants Bomas scrapped as national tallying centre

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – A coalition led by former Chief Justice David Maraga wants the national presidential tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya abolished ahead of the 2027 General Election, arguing that the Constitution does not envisage a central facility for tallying presidential votes.

The People’s Coalition on Electoral Reforms says the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should not be allowed to retally, re-verify or alter presidential results that have already been counted and declared at polling stations and subsequently tallied at constituency level.

The coalition is proposing that the electoral process should end at the constituency level for purposes of tallying presidential results, with the IEBC chairperson’s role limited to declaring the outcome based on results received from constituencies.

Its position is anchored on Article 138(2) of the Constitution, which provides that a presidential election shall be held in each constituency.

The group also points to Articles 86 and 138, which require votes to be counted, tallied, verified and the results announced at polling stations and constituency tallying centres.

According to the coalition, once results have been declared by a presiding officer at a polling station, they are final and should not subsequently be changed by the IEBC.

It relies heavily on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Maina Kiai case, which established the importance of results declared at polling stations in determining the final presidential tally.

“You know the Maina Kiai decision made it very clear that the results announced at the polling stations are final. They cannot be altered by anybody. They cannot be altered by the commissioners of IEBC themselves or any other person,” the coalition said.

The proposed changes would fundamentally alter the way Kenya conducts presidential elections, removing the national-level tallying stage that has traditionally been undertaken by the IEBC at Bomas of Kenya.

The coalition argues that constituency returning officers should openly and accurately collate results transmitted from polling stations before forwarding them to the national commission for the final declaration.

It maintains that the Constitution does not expressly establish a national tallying centre and questions the legal basis for using Bomas or another facility for that purpose.

“The Constitution makes no provision, please understand me, the Constitution makes no provision for a national tallying centre,” it said.

The group also cites the Supreme Court’s consideration of presidential election petitions arising from the 2017 and 2022 elections, arguing that proceedings surrounding the national tallying process demonstrated the potential for opacity and disputes at the central level.

The coalition is also seeking a clearer definition of the powers of the IEBC chairperson and commissioners during the final stages of a presidential election.

It argues that Article 138(10) gives the chairperson the responsibility of declaring the presidential election results but does not empower the office to conduct a fresh tally or verification of results already declared at polling stations and constituency level.

“The Constitution doesn’t give IEBC any authority to retally the results that have been announced at the polling stations and at the constituency level,” the coalition said.

The proposed reform would consequently bar the IEBC chairperson and commissioners from retallying, re-verifying or altering results declared by presiding and constituency returning officers.

“So, the first mandatory reform that we are asking before the 2027 general election is that there shall be no tallying centre in Bomas or elsewhere and the IEBC chairman and commissioner shall not retally, re-verify or alter the results declared at the constituencies and at the polling stations,” the coalition said.

The coalition is further challenging provisions in the Elections Act and election regulations that establish or provide for a national tallying centre and those it says give the IEBC authority to retally or verify presidential results.

It wants those provisions reviewed or struck down if they are found to conflict with the Constitution.

The proposal comes as electoral stakeholders begin pushing for changes to Kenya’s electoral system ahead of the 2027 polls, with questions over the tallying and transmission of presidential results expected to remain central to the reform debate.