Nasa: We don't want Al Ghurair and Morpho in poll

Nasa leader Raila Odinga on Monday demanded new firms print ballots papers and provide technology for the repeat presidential election, arguing that there is enough time to make the changes.

The opposition chief wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to dump Dubai-based Al-Ghurair in the printing of ballot papers, and French-based OT-Morpho in the Sh3.8 billion voter identification and results transmission kits tender.

At the same time, Mr Odinga wants the electoral officials, whom the coalition accuses of bungling the invalidated August 8 presidential election, be ejected from office and jailed.

TIME LIMIT
Speaking at the Okoa Kenya Secretariat offices in Lavington, Mr Odinga insisted that the electoral commission has enough time and money to correct its mistakes that led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that invalidated President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win.

“Time is not a constraint here,” he said of the fears of changing the ballot printer and technology provider with only less than a month to the fresh poll.

“There are about five companies we know that are ready to supply the technology and the Kiems (Kenya Integrated Elections Management System) kits in 30 days if the tender is awarded today.”

BRIBERY

As part of its attempts to right the wrongs of the 2013 poll, the commission had made it mandatory to have the Kiems kits arrive in the country at least three months to the polls to enable training and familiarisation with the system before the elections.

Already, Morpho has said the 28 days remaining before the next polls are not enough for it to reconfigure the kits, let alone procure new ones.

However, Nasa MPs on Monday dropped another bombshell on the firm, accusing top Jubilee and electoral officials of receiving a Sh200 million bribe to award the tender for the August 8 elections to Morpho.

CORRUPTION
MPs Junet Mohamed (Suna East), Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja), Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Mishi Mboko (Likoni) and Homa Bay woman representative Gladys Wanga said the money was dispatched in batches of Sh20 million through a law firm based at the city centre.

“The company was involved in corrupt deals here to win the contract and that its action deliberately shifted the IT infrastructure to get an outcome desirable to Jubilee,” Mr Mohamed said.

“We do not need Safran in our election on October 17 or any other date and we will not allow it.”

HACKING
The MPs also took issue with the failure by the company to block unauthorised access into its systems, which was blamed for altering the presidential election results.

“Safran’s complicity in this fraud extends beyond just hacking but to wilfully allowing gross violations of the IEBC ICT user policy.

"Does Safran deny that only two out of 40,883 Kiems kits transferred data for the entire elections? This is also in the IEBC logs,” Mr Mohamed said.

At Lavington, Mr Odinga said “if they are not careful, we will name them soon” referring to the people he said had colluded with the firm, and accused two of Kenya’s mobile service providers of collaborating in the alleged scheme.

“We have put together information linking local telecommunication firms, particularly Safaricom and Telkom Kenya, in collaboration with Safran and how they stole our votes,” Mr Odinga said.

“We are on the trail of local owners of Safran and the firms that printed fake result declaration forms and ballot papers along Mombasa Road.”

OFFICIALS
Mr Odinga said the 12 officials Nasa named, including electoral commissioners Abdi Guliye, Boya Molu, chief executive Ezra Chiloba and his two deputies Betty Nyabuto and Marjan Hussein Marjan should be jailed.

The other officials Mr Odinga has named were directors Immaculate Kasait (elections), Praxedes Tororey (legal), James Muhati (ICT), and Moses Kipkosgey, Mr Chiloba’s legal adviser.

Also in the Nasa blacklist are county returning officers Nancy Kariuki (Mombasa), Sidney Namulungu (Kisii) and Silas Rotich (Nakuru).