IEBC boss lied on Sh250m payment for election kits: Auditor-General

The Auditor General has refuted claims he sanctioned payment of Sh250 million to a firm supplying election kits in 2013.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) boss, Mr Ezra Chiloba, had told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts committee that he paid South African firm Face Technologies $2.5 million for supply of electronic Voter Identification Devices (Evids) after the Auditor General cleared the payment.

“There was no contract. The auditor general did not validate that amount,” a representative of Mr Edward Ouko told MPs on Monday.

The amount was paid for the supply of 4,600 Evids, for use in the 2013 General Election, but the Auditor General has raised audit queries on the whole procurement process carried out by the IEBC in the last polls.

However, Mr Chiloba defended the payments saying the IEBC conducted due diligence in making the payments saying the commission had saved $2 million, accusing the South African of inflating the cost per unit of the Evids.

The IEBC boss also told the parliamentary team that Treasury internal auditor had validated the payments, which was also approved by the National Assembly through the 2014/15 supplementary budget.

He also told the committee that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had also given the payments to Face Technologies the green light.

Mr Chiloba told the PAC that the firm wrote to IEBC on January 17, 2013 indicating it will deliver 5,000 kits.

At that point, Mr Chiloba said Face Technologies had indicated its inability to deliver on the original contract based on failure by the IEBC to deliver the letter of credit.

The firm also changed specifications on the devices it was supposed to deliver, supplying 34,000 laptops instead of the hand held devices specified in the contract with the IEBC.

“The rationale for the 34,000 kits was to ensure the 33,000 polling stations were catered for. The commission accepted a mix of hand held kits and laptops,” he said.

He said the firm delivered 30,000 laptops and 4,600 hand held voter registration kits.

On Monday Mr Chiloba was also taken to task over why he approved payment for the Evids, and yet his predecessor Mr James Oswago had declined to pay, citing some anomalies.

However, Mr Chiloba said the IEBC had made legal commitments when it accepted the supply of the electronic kits, even though it was outside of what had been agreed between the commission and the South African firm.

He said even though Face Technologies had sent an invoice of $4.6 million, the IEBC paid $2.5 million, since increase in the unit cost by the supplier was not justifiable.