Poll agency CEO Chiloba cleared over Sh259m deal

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission CEO Ezra Chiloba. (Photo: File/Standard)

Electoral chief Ezra Chiloba has been cleared over payment of Sh259 million for voter identification kits that failed in the 2013 elections.

Mr Chiloba, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), got a relief after Auditor General Edward Ouko concluded that the Treasury approved payment for the 4,000 extra units of Voter Identification Devices.

The auditor’s report for financial year 2014/2015 found that the CEO saved the taxpayer a further loss of Sh129 million after he declined to effect payment on grounds that the invoice provided was unsupported. The Treasury had initially approved Sh388 million to pay the supplier, Face Technologies.

Pending bill

“The contractor submitted an invoice amounting to Sh388 million which was validated as a pending bill by the National Treasury’s internal audit,” reads the report tabled in the National Assembly last Thursday.

The CEO was early this year indicted by a report of the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee for effecting the payment just two months after he took office.

When he appeared before the committee, Chiloba said he made the decision to pay the contractor after looking at documents left by his predecessor James Oswago and after consulting senior IEBC officials.