Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission boss in trouble over Sh250m kits payment

A decision by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Ezra Chiloba to pay a company that supplied voter identification devices Sh250 million above the contractual sum has returned to haunt him.

Mr Chiloba found himself in trouble with members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after he admitted to having paid for 4,600 additional electronic voter identification devices (EVID) even after his predecessor, James Oswago, had declined to pay for the kits.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba defends himself when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee at Parliament Buildings yesterday. [PHOTO: MOSES OMUSULA/STANDARD]

The watchdog committee questioned the decision by the electoral agency's boss to pay Face Technologies for the gadgets yet they were above what was agreed upon in the contract.

IEBC had contracted Face Technologies to provide it with 30,000 EVIDs at Sh1.3 billion but the company provided an additional 4,600.

The committee noted that Mr Oswago declined to pay for the extra gadgets, but when Chiloba assumed office, he negotiated with the company and paid them $2.5 million (about Sh250 million) instead of the $4.6 million (Sh460 million) the firm was demanding.

“Did you realise that you made payments for items that were irregularly acquired?" Balambala MP Abdikadir Aden asked.

Chiloba admitted that there was no variation on the contract to include the additional gadgets, adding that he decided to pay since the electoral body had taken possession of the gadgets and even used them.

He said that a report by Treasury’s Internal Audit Department on pending bills had approved the payments.

”When I came in I found that payments were at an advanced stage. It was after I was presented with documents by a team involved earlier that I authorised the payments,” Chiloba said. He said he decided to pay for the devices and take disciplinary action on the officers who led to the irregularities.

 “As we talk, those behind this are facing criminal charges in court. It was my decision that we pay, but if I was in my predecessor's position, I would not have let it get where it got,” he said. He said it was prudent to pay but make sure the irregularity does not happen again.

"It was my decision to sign for the payments. The irregularity had already happened," the IEBC boss said.

The IEBC chief said the commission had, through internal meetings and correspondences, agreed to order in excess of 5,000 kits for additional polling stations but failed to renegotiate the contract.