• Kaluma wants payments made to the French company declared illegal.
• IDEMIA was awarded the tender to supply 31,500 biometric kits to be used in the National Integrated Identity Management System at Sh1.7 billion.
Image: FILE
An MP has initiated a push for IEBC technology provider IDEMIA – popularly known as OT-Morpho – to refund the money it was paid to manage the 2017 General Election.
Homa Bay Town’s Peter Kaluma wants the payments made to the French company declared illegal, having been ‘in violation of the requirements of the Company Act’.
IDEMIA was awarded the tender to supply 31,500 biometric kits to be used in the National Integrated Identity Management System at Sh1.7 billion.
The citizen registration drive, commonly known as Huduma Namba or NIIMs, was popularised by various leaders yesterday.
All contracts entered into between IDEMIA and the IEBC be investigated and nullified for having been entered into in violation of the lawHoma Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma
Kaluma, in his proposed amendment to the Public Accounts Committee report on the IEBC's conduct of the 2017 elections, wants IDEMIA investigated for violating the law.
Sections 974, 975, and 979 of the Companies Act stipulate that any firm contracted in Kenya must be listed by the Registrar of Companies.
He wants the IEBC to take immediate legal action to recover all money unlawfully paid under the contract it entered into with IDEMIA. The firm was paid Sh4.2 billion for the supply of KIEMS kits, which were used in the 2017 elections.
During its presentation to PAC, chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, IDEMIA intimated that it has no local presence.
“In line with Section 41 of the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act, the firm should be barred from participating in any kind of procurement payable using public funds,” Kaluma said.
The lawmaker has invited the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Director of Public Prosecutions to institute appropriate criminal action against IDEMIA.
He said it should be investigated regardless of the change of name from Morpho, Safran Identity and Security.
Kaluma wants its officers and local representatives charged with purporting to conduct business with the IEBC before the firm was registered as a foreign company.
The proposal may open a Pandora's box as most ministries have contracted a number of foreign firms to handle certain projects on grounds local firms lack capacity.
“The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Board should investigate, within 60 days, the conduct of IDEMIA and if it finds it culpable, enter its name in the repository of debarred firms,” Kaluma said.
“They should consider barring the firm from participating, award or entering into any kind of procurement contract payable using funds under any state department.”
The MP, in his proposed amendment, further wants any official who violates the committee’s resolution held personally liable.
He asked the Attorney General and Treasury Cabinet Secretary to ensure compliance with the suggested resolution.