All clear as Treasury agrees to pay for vote kits

The government on Wednesday announced it has cleared hurdles that hindered fresh voter listing after the Treasury agreed to make full payment to allow the supplier of the 15,000 Biometric Voter Registration kits to deliver the equipments.

Addressing an intergovernmental press conference in his office, Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced that the 60 per cent balance which had blocked the delivery of the kits will be made on Friday.

The French supplier, Safran Morpho, has been withholding some 14,800 after uncertainty emerged over the commitment to remit Sh3.8 billion balance following an initial payment of Sh2.4 billion by the government early in the month.

On Thursday the representatives of the Canadian governments financing the procurement of the BVR kits are expected in Kenya to sign the financial agreements before money is released to Safran Morpho on Friday.

Mr Odinga also announced that he will talk to official from the French Government to facilitate immediate delivery of the kits.

“On behalf of the government of Kenya, I have undertaken to talk to the Government of France to assist in fast tracking the delivery of the kits once payment is made,” Mr Odinga said.

The press conference at the PM’s office was also attended by cabinet ministers Eugene Wamalwa (Justice), Njeru Gidhae (Finance), IEBC commissioners led by Mr Ahmed Issack Hasan and several other government and commission officials.

Mr Hassan said that the commission will embark on the registration of voters as soon as the kits are delivered and explained how the commission has prepared for the March 4 elections.

“Our job as IEBC has been to supply technical information to the government so that the kits can be supplied. It is up to the government to ensure that payments are made and the deliveries made on time,” Mr Hassan said.

He maintained that the commission will successfully conduct the registration of 18 million voters within 30 days arguing that the same team managed the registration of 12.5 million voters manually in 45 days before the referendum.

Mr Wamalwa revealed that his claims that some government officials were secretly sabotaging the elections preparations was targeted at the Treasury.

“When I made some remarks yesterday (Tuesday) that some people were planning to sabotage these elections, I was referring to the Treasury but now I am happy because they have assured us that all is fine and that payments will be made,” the Minister said.

Mr Githae however warned government officials to desist from making careless and inflammatory statement regarding the procurement process refuting claims his office was the saboteur.

“It is unfair that a lot of unfortunate and careless statements have been made over this matter. We want to assure Kenyans that we are committed to ensure the equipment are delivered as soon as possible,” Mr Githae said.

He promised that remaining formalities will be concluded by Friday so as to enable the delivery of all the kits before the end of the month.

The IEBC has also revised its programs following the delayed supplies of the kits.