Chiloba reacts to cancellation of ballot paper printing tender

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba has expressed fears over preparations for the August 8th polls after the High Court cancelled the award of a Ksh2.5 billion tender for printing ballot papers.

Chiloba, who was reacting to Monday’s ruling by Justice George Odunga, said the IEBC timelines for the August 8th polls could be affected by the court ruling.

In his ruling, Justice Odunga quashed the Ksh2.5 billion ballot paper printing tender that had been awarded to Dubai-based firm Al Ghurair by electoral body IEBC.

Issuing the ruling, Justice George Odunga cited procurement irregularities as had been argued by opposition CORD in its petition filed in court challenging the controversial tender.

On October 18 the IEBC through CEO Ezra Chiloba wrote to Al Ghurair, notifying it that its bid for supply and delivery of 130 million ballot papers, election declaration forms and poll registers had been accepted.

But CORD, through Lawyer James Orengo, went to court to challenge the contract to the Dubai-based Printing and Publishing Company for electoral material saying it was illegal and unconstitutional.

There is already another case against the award of the contract to audit the voters’ register to KPMG while the procurement of the election management system was allowed by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board.