MP wants IEBC to speak up on diaspora vote

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Naivasha MP John Mututho. Photo/File 

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, August 13  2012 at  12:17

An MP now wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to assure Kenyans in diaspora that they will cast their vote in the next General Election.

The MP said that the developments on Biometric Voter Registration saga does not guarantee electronic voting.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi’s Parliament buildings on Monday, Mr John Mututho (Naivasha) said there were high-profile individuals keen to retain power and who were out to frustrate the automation of the electoral process.

“These people in power should stop cheating the Kenyans in diaspora that they will vote in the next elections. Let us tell them the truth; they will not vote. The BVR as envisaged by the IEBC does not necessarily mean an electronic election. Let’s tell them that they will not vote because someone is planning to steal the election,” said Mr Mututho.

The MP also criticized the government-to-government deal struck last week to procure the BVR equipment.

He said it is wrong for the executive to borrow money to run the key poll component, when Parliament had approved Sh17.5 billion for the IEBC.

“The decision by this government to borrow USD 55 million for the BVR kits, is an admission that we’re either too careless or too broke to carry out our own elections. This is very embarrassing to Kenyans,” said the Naivasha MP.

Mr Mututho added that “when governments engage in business” then they ought to be subjected to the same tendering process.

The MP took the view that it was wrong for the Canadian government to give Kenya conditions on how the procurement should be done.

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He said that the Canadian firm picked to do the job was “bankrupt”.

“Let the government keep the likes of Canada out of this because their agenda is not clear. Do not bring us a company that is winding up, to register our voters. Why would we want our bio-data out there with a foreign company that we do not know what it is going to do with it?,” posed Mr Mututho.

The MP said the Chief Executive of the IEBC, Mr James Oswago, ought to relook at the procurement, and get a consortium of Kenyan companies to do the job.

He said the Canadian firm Code Inc, did not have the financial muscle to do the job.

The Canadian firms have formed consortiums to handle the BVR procurement.

The first consortium involves Code Inc, whose ownership is still in question, and Face Technology of South Africa, which was the third lowest bidder, before IEBC cancelled the tender on July 23.

The second consortium brings together Cross Match Technologies of Canada, Smartmatic of UK, and Dermalog of Germany.

Boardroom wars pitting the commission against the secretariat had prevented the IEBC from awarding the tender to Symphony, the second lowest bidder after 4G Identity of India was disqualified.