IEBC sends ICT Director on leave due to refusal to cooperate

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The suspension of a director and the angry exchanges between personnel at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has cast a dark cloud over the institution, with the General Election just two months away.

On Friday evening, ICT Director James Muhati was sent on compulsory leave by the commission following accusations that he had refused to cooperate in an ongoing audit of ICT systems. The decision to oust Muhati was reached at a plenary meeting chaired by Chairman Wafula Chebukati and attended by all commissioners and CEO Ezra Chiloba.

Chebukati personally signed the memo sending Muhati home and appointed manager Chris Msando as the acting director. Sunday Standard has learned that some commissioners abruptly raised Muhati’s agenda at the plenary, accusing him of obstructing an ongoing audit of IEBC systems.

A commissioner intimated to Sunday Standard that Chiloba tried to defend Muhati on grounds that the decision to suspend him was too hasty, but majority of the commissioners dismissed him.

“One of my fellow commissioners rejected Chiloba’s argument and told him the secretariat falls under the commissioners in all aspects and that he (Chiloba) should never make any decision about the secretariat without permission from the commission,” said a commissioner, who did not wish to be named.

The commission has only 13 days to beat the deadline of testing its vote management and elections system as required by the Elections Act 2016. The test must be carried out 60 days to the election date.

The commission was reportedly irked by Muhati’s failure to respond to a memo by his colleague, the Director of Audit, Risk and Compliance Obadiah Keitany dated May 17. In the internal memo, Keitany accused Muhati of refusing to cooperate on authentication of the commission’s software and hardware licences and certificates.

Cold war “We have noted that there is little cooperation from your directorate with regard to provision of requested information for purposes of concluding the exercise,” said part of the memo. “This is contrary to the PFM regulations 2015 section 162 (3-4) which grants the directorate of Audit and Risk ‘unrestricted, direct and prompt access to records, officials or personal, relevant to performance of audit function’.”

“Kindly note that we are proceeding to conduct the exercise noting your unwillingness to provide the necessary information,” reads Keitany’s memo, copied to Chebukati, Chiloba and Deputy CEO Support Services Marjan Hussein.

Insiders now say the move was a culmination of an ominous cold war pitting the commissioners on one side and the secretariat led by Chiloba on the other side. “This has been in the offing for a long time. The commissioners and the chief (Chiloba) don’t read from the same script.

There is mutual suspicion as the commissioners seek to flex their muscles on chief,” an insider conversant with the wrangles said. But IEBC vice chair Consalata Maina denied any rift between the commission and secretariat, saying the administrative action against the ICT boss won’t hamper the elections plans.

“There is nothing like turf wars. Besides, the directorate of ICT is not a one man show. The officer who has been appointed is competent enough to guide the process as we approach June 10 deadline for testing the technology,” Ms Maina said. Muhati’s colleagues were surprised to learn that one of the commissioners leaked a memo from the plenary asking Chiloba to send Muhati on leave to the media. The story was exclusively carried by Standard Digital. Yesterday, IEBC released a statement after commissioners called for a crisis plenary meeting where it was agreed that the Manager, Communication and Public Affairs, releases a statement confirming that Muhati had been send on a one month leave.

The undercurrent was also sparked by suspicion last month that one of the commissioners had leaked to journalists an impending crisis over the licences by technology firm Oracle, which are said to have expired, triggering the commissioners to order an audit.

Test run

With just about 70 days to the polls, Muhati’s role is fundamental given the law requires IEBC to test run the technology to be used during the polls by June 10, which is less than two weeks away. A senior member of the commission told Sunday Standard that the crackdown will be extended to the procurement department over claims of bungling major tender processes.

On Friday, IEBC got a reprieve after the High Court dismissed a case that had sought to set aside orders issued by the Public Procurement Administrative Review stopping a restricted tender process. In what was a startling revelation, the court found that IEBC had sold to one of the bidders documents meant for an open tender, therefore violating the procurement rules.

By yesterday, the commission had resolved to award the tender directly and identify a firm by considering the capacity, integrity and distance between the supplier and Nairobi. Among the firms being considered is Dubai based Al Ghurair Security and Printing, Kenya’s Ellams Products, South Africa’s Unprint Limited and UK based firms GI Solutions Limited, Kalamazoo and Tall Security.

A team may leave the country as early as next week to South Africa, Dubai and London even as the Opposition warned the commission to be extra careful. “We are aware of a deal struck by some senior IEBC officials, government brokers and Al Ghurair to supply the ballots with a promise of printing extra papers.

We are warning CEO (Chiloba) to be extra careful not to take this country to the dogs,” ODM director of Elections Junet Mohamed said. Jubilee Party, on the other hand, said IEBC should be given a free hand to pick a supplier for the materials. “Jubilee is determined to make sure this election takes place on August 8 and we know the people who have been erecting hurdles on the commission. Our position is that IEBC should do whatever it does to procure the ballots,” JP vice chairman David Murathe said.

Time constraints

The fears that IEBC may award the deal to Al Ghurair is informed by a similar decision last month where the commission picked French firm Safran Morpho in the Sh3.8 billion supply of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS), citing time constraints.

Last week, the commission met NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga and told him they would opt for single sourcing. The commission is further contemplating having representatives of main political parties to accompany the technical team to the countries of firms being considered for the Sh2.5 billion deal.

Source: Standard Digital