Activist challenges tender on audit of voter register

An activist challenged a tender award for the audit of voter register five days after a judge struck out a similar case on grounds that it lacked clarity.

Mr Okiya Omtatah has sued the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for irregularly awarding the tender to KPMG.

Through lawyer Apollo Mboya, he faults the electoral body for flouting the Election law in awarding tender No. IEBC/05/2016-2017 for the consultancy services for audit of the voter register to the said firm in the absence of a properly constituted Commission.

He argues that the suit could not be filed earlier because there was already an earlier case filed by the Opposition on the same issue, which were not determined by court and was merely dismissed based on a technicality.

“The elections are due to take place on August 8, there are timelines made by IEBC as well as the Elections Act within which the audit must be carried out and the register opened for inspection hence this matter is urgent because it touches on the right of millions of Kenyans to participate in free, fair polls,” Mr Mboya said.

LACK CLARITY

Last week, Justice Enoch Chacha Mwita dismissed a case challenging the tender award to KPMG which had been filed by the Opposition in December last year.

According to the judge, the suit had raised serious issues of law but, only, lacked clarity hence faulted the Opposition for preparing their case documents in a hurry without paying much attention to details, a misstep that resulted in disharmony in the kind of reprieve they were seeking.

They had indicated tender No. IEBC/32/2016-2017 and IEBC/EO1/05/2016-2017, which the judge said appeared to be two separate ones.

Justice George Odunga had initially stopped the IEBC from implementing the tender award temporarily.

He had later recused himself from the case and the matter was determined by Justice Mwita who declined to grant any reprieve to the Opposition.

The audit is meant to authenticate genuine voters in the register by weeding out ineligible voters, including the dead, the underage and those who have registered more than once.

According to Mr Omtatah in his case, he wants the IEBC barred from entering into any contract with KPMG with regards to the disputed tender award or implementing it.

ELECTION LAWS

Eleven firms had been shortlisted for the award after it was advertised and six companies met required standards when evaluation was done. Out of the six, four had submitted both technical and financial proposals.

He argues that the firm awarded has no experience of having undertaken a similar task and that no adequate consultation of stakeholders was carried out.

He also faults IEBC of initiating court cases aimed at undoing changes made to election laws and that the award is shrouded in secrecy.

He alleges that there was no technical committee prior to the start of the audit yet the law requires that one must be in place after being approved by Parliament.