New bid to stop IEBC tender for auditing voter register

The electoral commission’s plan to audit the voter register has encountered a new hurdle just four days after the High Court cleared a tender row.

Activist Okiya Omtatah filed an urgent suit to stop the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from proceeding with the contract it awarded to audit firm KMPG, arguing that the contract was irregularly given and that the firm had no capacity to carry out the audit.

“The commission did not only act suspiciously in awarding the contract but has also diluted the gains made through electoral reforms in allowing a firm that has no expertise in auditing voter registers or any guarantee of their ability to clean up the register,” said Mr Omtatah.

The activist took advantage of Justice Chacha Mwita’s ruling last week in which he dismissed CORD’s petition against the contract on a technicality.

Justice Mwita ruled that the Opposition coalition had raised strong case that needed thorough interrogation, but he could not proceed to issue the orders they sought because they had cited the wrong tender.

The IEBC had submitted that the tender number was IEBC/EOI/05/2016-2017 while CORD had cited tender number IEBC/32/2016-2017.

Through lawyer Apollo Mboya, Omtatah has now cited the correct tender number in his petition and wants the entire contract cancelled and the commission compelled to hire a competent audit firm with the capacity to clean up the register.