Fresh queries over deal to supply voter kits

By Juma Kwayera

The manner the Cabinet settled on Canadian firm Code Inc to supply biometric voter registration equipment raises fresh questions about the transparency of the process following further revelations that the firm is under liquidation.

The unanswered questions about the financial viability of the firm puts the Cabinet on the spot after it settled on the company without doing due diligence to establish its financial health.

Consequently, Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa told The Standard the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission will no longer handle the procurement despite protests of the State encroaching on its independence.

Possible financial fiddling and underhand dealings forced the Government to wrest the tendering process from IEBC, which had apparently become steeped in vested interests, according to Wamalwa.

The hurry with which the Cabinet went for Code Inc raises further questions about previous attempts by it chief executive Gordon Sinclair, to gate-crash the contract by grafting Code Inc onto Symphony, after being informed by a former commissioner with the defunct IIEBC that the latter was on the verge of landing the lucrative tender.

Wamalwa admits the failure by Issack Hassan’s commission raised questions of credibility.

“The Government has taken over the process to insulate the institution against allegation of corruption. We are going to do a MoU with the Government of Canada outlining specifications for the equipment we want. We are not going to deal with Code Inc. We’ll leave it to the Canadian government to source the equipment and deliver it to us,” says the Justice minister.

Correspondence in our possession show the selection of Code Inc was predetermined as the IEBC is portrayed in emails as wilfully going to bed with a Canadian firm that it hired for the pilot stage of electronic voting and voter registration in 18 constituencies.

An email dispatched by Sinclair to Symphony chief executive Rajender Singh Sachdeva suggests high stakes manoeuvres to bend the procurement process to allow the winner to subcontract multiple firms to execute the tender. Housing minister Soita Shitanda, who attended the meeting chaired by President Kibaki, blames the IEBC for transacting business under the table.

Due dilligence

“The Cabinet took advantage of a provision in the procurement law that permits single sourcing. This was intended to speed up the procurement of the biometric voter register (BVR). Had it been a government-to-government process, it would be incumbent upon Canadian the Government to conduct a due diligence,” says Mr Shitanda.

Shitanda says the Government backed out of the procurement after IEBC complained the State was encroaching on its independence.

“The Government reads mischief in what is happening at IEBC. We want allegations of fraud in the award of the tender investigated,” says the minister.

The email dated July 6 hints at a possible unprofessional acquiescence between Sinclair and senior IEBC officials.

In an email that suggests intense canvassing, Sinclair writes: “I can say that my priority at this point is to do the best to help my good friend [Isaack] Hassan pull the rabbit out of the hat. Personal, corporate and other interests really take second place for us. And I fully understand you on the other hand have serious company corporate interests to look after.”

Row over supply mode

Intriguingly, Code Inc was declared insolvent barely three days after it was picked by the Cabinet to speed up the procurement of BVR equipment.

The selection of the Code Inc informs the standoff between the election body’s secretariat and commissioners who are at loggerheads over the criteria to use to supply the voting material.  An email by Ernest&Young Senior Vice-President announced the liquidation of Code Inc, further denting the credibility of IEBC, which currently is steeped in boardroom wars about how the tender will be awarded.

“Ernest&Young was appointed liquidator (of Code Inc). The liquidator is offering the moulds owned by Code Inc in respect of a 45-litre ballot box, a 60-litre ballot box and an 83-litre ballot box and the lids for sale.” The disposal of Code Inc property comes as an embarrassment to IEBC, which is also fighting accusations that one of the senior commissioners demanded Sh30 million bribe from an Indian firm, G4.

From the correspondence, it is evident Sinclair benefitted from insider information at IEBC as he was clearly tipped off about Symphony bid, triggering a flurry of enquiries about co-option in the project.

Sinclair says in an email dated June 6 to IEBC chairman soon after the tendering process got underway that although his firm had failed to secure the tender “in a frank and direct manner” to him, Code Inc was willing to tag along whatever company that won the tender.

Kenyan embassy in Ottawa is emphatically and overwhelmingly vocally in support of Code Inc and its capacity as the head of the mission voices it is the only logical answer to the successful implementation of the BVR project.

 “I can say that my priority at his point is to do the best to help my good friend Hassan pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Personal, corporate and other peripheral interests really take second place. I fully understand you on the other hand have serious company/corporate interests to look after,” said Sinclair, the vice president and head of marketing and business development of Code Inc.