We are sorry, IEBC says over BVR tender

We are sorry, IEBC says over BVR tender

FRIDAY, 03 AUGUST 2012 14:39 BY WALTER MENYA

MEA CULPA: IEBC chairman Issack Hassan makes his submissions before a joint parliamentary committee looking into the cancellation of the biometric voting registration kits tender yesterday. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yesterday apologized to Kenyans for canceling the Biometric voter Registration tender. The commission chairperson Ahmed Isaack Hassan and the CEO James Oswago however gave a firm promise to a joint session of the parliamentary legal affairs committee and the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee that the cancellation will not affect the integrity of the General Election. “We have tripped but we will get up and deliver a free and fair elections. We have learnt our lesson. This is a big set back but nothing has been lost,” Hassan told the joint committee session.

Oswago also said the commission had 'only slipped but not fallen' ”The commission has not broken any single procurement law to this end,” he said. The IEBC cancelled the tender for the supply of 9750 BVR kits Wednesday and announced that they will revert to the manual voter registration. Following the cancellation, the Commission said it will hire 50,000 registration clerks to carry out the exercise in 1,450 county wards instead of the 2,900 which had been targeted earlier under the BVR system. “While the commission set out to carry out biometric voter registration, we found that the lowest two bidders did not meet the due diligence requirements while the other two were above budget,” Hassan said. He also said the commission was under intense external pressure from several quarters.

Hassan also refuted claims of a fall out between himself and the CEO Oswago over the tender. “There is the reality, perception and the law. As a commission we are united and as a matter of fact we are working well together,” said Hassan who blamed the media for creating the wrong perceptions. “If only we would be given the opportunity to work without external interference then these things would not have happened,” Oswago said.

The top two IEBC officials were accompanied by vice chairperson Lillian Mahiri Zaja, commissioners Muthoni Wangai, Albert Bwire, Kule Galma, Abdullahi Sharawe, Mohamed Alawi, Thomas Letangule and several of the secretariat staff. MPs demanded to know why the tender was cancelled and whether the commission had a fall-back plan in case Parliament insists on going ahead with BVR system. “It is still not clear to me why you terminated the BVR tender process,” Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi said.

Nominated MP Amina Abdalla and her Kimilili counterpart Esseli Simiyu shared Mutava's concerns arguing that the process could have been sabotaged in order to have the commission revert to the manual process. However, Kasarani MP Elizabeth Ongoro and Justice and Constitutional minister Eugene Wamalwa commended the IEBC for terminating the tender.

Ongoro asked the IEBC to rebuild the confidence Kenyans had in the institution before the next General Election. “Trying to force the Commission to consume the poisonous mathenge weed would soil its name and erode the confidence of Kenyans,” said Wamalwa comparing the tender fiasco to the fast growing Mathenge weed introduced in the dry land areas in the North Rift and which has since colonized huge tracts of the region.

The furore over the tender was raised when the commission granted the tender to Symphony of Kenya. Other companies shortlisted included 4G Identity Solutions of India which was knocked off at the due diligence stage due to allegations it had been black listed by the Indian government; Face Technologies of South Africa and Ontrack Innovations of Israel.

The IEBC had wanted to introduce the BVR system to register an estimated 18 million voters. Yesterday, Isaack said there was no guarantee the commission could have registered this number of voters using the BVR system. He said the funds allocated for the purchase of the BVR kits will be spent on rolling out more polling stations and in other electoral operations. The commission also provided the MPs with the election timeline which also takes into account the run-off date —April 4, 2013—in case none of the presidential candidates fails to get the 50 per cent plus one votes.

The constitution provides that the run-off, if necessary, is held 30 days after the first round elections. The joint committees will at a later date summon the IEBC for a closed door meeting to discuss the much-publicised differences between the commissioners and the CEO.