House committee to meet more IEBC officials over poll kit tender row
Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ICT director Dismas Ong'ondi (centre) when he faced the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, July 21, 2015. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The National Assembly Public Accounts committee is on Wednesday expected to meet with more Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials.
(READ: Hassan ‘tried to sway BVR tender’)
The House committee is expected to dig further into controversies surrounding the procurement of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits and how it affected the 2013 elections.
On Wednesday, the committee, chaired by Rarieda MP Mr Nicholas Gumbo, will grill Director of Voter Registration Ms Immaculate Kassait on her role in the controversial tender.
The tender also involved the procurement of Electronic Voter Identification (Evid) devices and electoral results transmission systems that failed during the election.
The MPs on Tuesday questioned former ICT director Mr Dismas Ong’ondi.
CONTENT SPECIFICATIONS
Mr Ong’ondi appeared to implicate Ms Kassait for failing to provide content specifications to the ICT department, which it would have used to develop technical content for use in the BVR and Evid systems.
He said the ICT department went out of its way to develop content but the technical input led to delays in rolling out the electronic devices, which eventually failed during the election.
Later, the parliamentary team will meet the former Director of Finance & Procurement Mr Edward Karisa, who is expected to shed light on how the electronic voter devices were procured, and the irregularities that dogged the process.
The committee is relying on a special audit report on the IEBC, prepared by Auditor-General Mr Edward Ouko.
The audit reveals massive procurement irregularities regarding the failed attempt by the commission to make the electoral process electronic during the last elections.
