Fresh row erupts over ballots printing as setbacks stalk preparations for 2017 elections

Preparations for next year’s General Election are off to a bumpy start, with fears rife that operational challenges faced in 2013 could return to haunt the process.

The multi-billion shilling ballot paper printing contract is already hit by controversy at a time the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is struggling to beat the August 2017 election timelines.

The contract, whose procurement process commenced close to four months ago in August 17, 2016, is now subject of litigation at the Public Procurement Review Board.

Coming against the backdrop of the Chickengate scandal that has been under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, events around the matter could have significant ramifications on the delivery of the next polls.

Even as IEBC, through lawyer Anthony Lubulellah, argues the award of the tender to Al Ghurair was above board, Paarl Media, a South African company has filed the petition against IEBC, arguing the tendering was not fair and for that reason should be re-advertised.

The board is tomorrow expected to deliver a ruling on whether IEBC should proceed to sign the contract with the Dubai-based Al Ghurair Printing Company or have it re-advertised.

But more worrying is the delay in the recruitment of commissioners. It was expected that the commission would be reconstituted by mid next month to allow them hit the ground running.

At the same time, the new election laws require that verification of voters using biometric data be undertaken for 30 days at least 90 days before elections.

This means the register must be opened four months before the August General Election.

It had been expected that the register would be opened for public scrutiny by April 10 but that should have been preceded by mass voter registration to get 8 million new voters.

It now remains to be seen if all these and other crucial programmes will be realised given the delay in appointing new commissioners and the setbacks facing procurement of ballot papers.

CORD and Jubilee have already sought to be enjoined in the proceedings at the procurement board. Although the board admitted them as interested parties, it also restricted their submissions to issues in question. Meanwhile, IEBC, with a budget of Sh20 billion this year alone, has become a key target for a web of vendors, brokers and political players. Numerous procurement related litigation are likely to come by.

When the tender for the supply of ballot papers was advertised by the IEBC, records show only nine companies submitted their bids.

They include Ellams Products Ltd, Manipal Technologies Ltd, Paarl Media (Pty) Ltd, KL Hi-tech Secure Print Ltd, Al Ghuraiar Printing & Publishing, Baltijas Banknote, Digit Print Supplies SRL, Tall Security Print Ltd and United Printing & Publishing. Of the nine, only Ellams Products Ltd was a local company, the rest being from different countries.

Minutes of the Tender Opening show that while each company was to submit tender security worth Sh5 million, Paarl Media Ltd and United Printing & Publishing did not attach the tender security.

The minutes further indicate that three companies submitted samples of ballot papers bearing names of different company names.

Paarl Media submitted samples from Novus Holdings, Baltijas Banknote had samples from Baltic Banknote while Digital Print Supplies had samples from Digital Processing Systems.

IEBC evaluation report, a copy of which The Standard on Sunday obtained, and which was submitted to the Review Board shows how each company scored based on the criteria provided in the tender documents.

Five tenderers were declared non-responsive at the preliminary stage. Paarl Media Ltd, the company challenging the tendering process, was declared non-responsive after it failed to provide the following mandatory information: ISO 27001(ISM) Certification, tender security, audited accounts, complete business questionnaire and complete ballot samples. In its application to the Review Board, Paarl Media argues it was not able to prepare a responsive bid because the IEBC did not provide clarifications requested by it.

But IEBC denied this assertion, saying all clarifications sought by bidders were responded to as of August 30, 2016.

Documents before the board show that Ben Sachs of Paarl Media wrote a series of emails to the IEBC requesting for clarifications and in particular, that the tender be extended and for the Commission to hold a compulsory pre-bidders conference.

Email messages

However, in an email dated August 30, 2016, IEBC, in its response to Ben Sachs, was emphatic that the tender documents were clear and that there was no need for a pre-bidders conference or postponement of the tender.

It is during the email exchanges that one Shailesh Patel of African Infrastructure Development Company emerged.

Patel is not new in IEBC procurement related litigations. He also challenged the IEBC Biometric Voter Registration kit (BVR) tender in 2012.

Email communication shows that between September 1st and 10th this year, Shailesh Patel wrote a series of emails to PPOA, EACC and Parliament seeking to have the IEBC Ballot Paper tender terminated.

IEBC lawyer termed Patel as a ‘stranger who sought to intimidate the commission by violating procurement procedures’

Appearing before the PPOA board, IEBC lawyer Anthony Lubullela questioned why both Shailesh Patel and Ben Sachs used email addresses not provided by the Commission in seeking clarifications on the tender.

The tender documents filed at the Review Board show that all clarifications concerning the tender were to be sent to [email protected].

Instead, said IEBC, the email [email protected] used by Ben Sachs and Paarl Media does not exist.

“We further observe that writing to the chairman of the commission on matters procurement was not procedural. Indeed, in one of the emails, the chairman Issack Hassan, is emphatic when he asks Ben Sachs to direct all his communication to the accounting officer,” said the IEBC lawyer

During their submissions at the Review Board, IEBC questioned the identity of faces behind Paarl Media.

According to the IEBC, the contact person provided by Paarl Media with regards to the tender was one Ms Louise McCollough and not Ben Sachs nor Shailesh Patel.

Apart from attending the opening of the tenders on September 7 2016, McCollough never featured in subsequent communications with the IEBC.

Sources have indicated that Ben Sachs was merely a consultant for Paarl Media on this project. The IEBC argues that it was in fact wrong for it to formally engage Mr Ben Sachs or Shailesh Patel concerning the tender because they were nowhere in the formal tender documents submitted by Paarl Media.

“Shailesh Patel, who came to Ben Sachs’ aid, was keen on invoking political networks in order to influence the direction of the tender. By writing to Parliament, EACC and PPOA well in advance before the tender was closed, it meant that the entire procurement process would end up being politicised,” said Lubullelah.