A particularly apt description of the funding dilemma can be found in the latest Rift Valley Institute report, which quotes a commentator as saying:

The donors, either they are stupid or they are totally naive. The government [i.e. GoNU] didn’t put money for the election, in which they had an interest. So are they going to put money for the referendum? Of course not! … At the end of the day, is there any donor who is willing to stand and say that they won’t pay, at all? No. At the end of the day they will pay. So why not pay now?’