Curiosity rises as IEBC biometric tender put off

By MARTIN MUTUA

Kenya’s electoral body faces a race against time to put in place an electronic voter registration system after cancelling a Sh3.9 billion tender on the back of intense public scrutiny.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is boxed into a corner with elections just seven months away and the spectre of a return to the much-faulted manual voter registration, blamed for the rigging that marred the ill-fated 2007 polls.

The official explanation from the IEBC was that none of the four companies originally shortlisted to supply the biometric voter registration kits met the full requirements of the tender.  

And tension at the IEBC’s offices in Nairobi was palpable with speculation that at least one official might have to carry the cross of the failed procurement.

Timelines for voter registration that had been set by the IEBC ahead of the March 4, 2013 elections are also likely to be affected since the commission had clearly set out when the process would be completed.

The Isaack Hassan-led team must now devise new strategies on timeliness that will enable it to meet its targets and still deliver a credible General Election.

Already civic education for the close to 12 million voters is yet to be undertaken and time is of the essence if the pitfalls that culminated in the 2007/8 post election violence are to be avoided.

The tendering process for the biometric kits sparked vicious boardroom wars within IEBC and forced the initial tendering committee chaired by Ms. Praxedes Tororey to throw in the towel.

Another committee was picked to carry on with the tendering process but the IEBC is now left with three options with which to move the process forward.

First, it can choose to re-advertise the tender afresh, but this would eat up valuable time as will likely take three months unless the Government grants the commission an exceptional waiver on State procurement regulations.

The law stipulates voter registration must be done at least three months before the polls.

Second, the IEBC can opt for manual voter registration, which is susceptible to manipulation by compromised officials in the field and agents of political players.

The IEBC’s predecessor, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) was widely criticised, notably by the Kriegler Commission, which investigated the conduct of the last elections hence the strong desire to avoid attracting similar, or worse criticism.

The final option is to hire the equipment from Tanzania in the spirit of East African Community and good neighbourliness and carry on with the voter registration.

This option appears more palatable as IEBC has equally extended the recruitment of 2,900 voter registration clerks who are to undertake the massive exercise electronically as contained in a paid-up advertisement elsewhere in this paper. 

One of the companies knocked out of the scrapped tender, 4G Identity solutions are accused of having been blacklisted in its home country of India.

The company later alleged that Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials miffed at its refusal to pay them a Sh30 million bribe fixed it with a bad recommendation to IEBC.

The allegations were, however, strongly refuted by Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi.

At the centre of the controversy was the recommendation by the former committee to award the tender to Symphony Africa, a company that quoted a price above the IEBC’s budget and which was ranked third of the four companies shortlisted.

The Tororey committee had recommended that Face Technologies, which had quoted Sh4.78 billion be granted the tender, but the firm had quoted Sh810 million above the Sh3.97 billion, budget for the kits.

Only On Track Innovations, with a quotation of Sh8.22billion, tendered a higher figure than Face Technologies.  

The decision to recommend Face Technologies forced the IEBC Chief Executive Officer James Oswago to refer the matter to the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) seeking its advice.

The authority in turn questioned the manner in which the tendering process was undertaken.

In a letter to Oswago, PPOA questioned whether this may have played a role in the resignation of the tendering committee and poked holes in the initial tendering process.

It questioned the presence of unauthorized persons during the opening of the bids, the different requirements given to the bidders and finally the awarding of the tender to Face Technologies.