It will be yet another direct procurement for election equipment by IEBC as the agency races against time.
Kenyans will bear the brunt of processes associated with the distortion and inflation of prices through below-the-counter maneuvers.
Auditor General Edward Ouko in a Special Audit of the procurement of the election materials said the country lost Sh4.1 billion in the procurement of the 15,000 Biometric Voter Registration kits in the 2013 election.
The BVR technology was supplied by France’s Safran Morpho in a government-to-government procurement.
The commission terminated the open tender procurement in August 2012, citing competing but unspecified vendor interests.
The Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission is under pressure to adhere to a new law — The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 — which requires the agency to procure electoral kits by December 8.
It will be impractical for IEBC to violate open tenders for the three technologies, identify the suppliers and have the kits delivered within the negotiated December deadline.
Such an international tender takes not less than 85 days. The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee met the IEBC secretariat on Tuesday to thrash out conflicting issues arising from the enactment of the legislation with the commission in dilemma.
The secretariat, led by CEO Ezra Chiloba, told MPs the strict timeliness set under the new law conflicts with the commission’s own election plan.
“They raised several issues but we told them they must follow the new law to the letter. Implementation is the irreducible minimum,” says Legal Affairs committee chairman Samwel Chepkonga.
The Public Procurement Act allows direct procurement.