Court gives KPMG go ahead to audit voter register

KPMG audit firm can go ahead and audit the voters’ register, the court has ruled.

This is after Judge Enoch Chacha Mwita dismissed an application by the opposition coalition – CORD saying that the application is incompetent.

The judge noted that although the application raises questions of law, the applicants were in a hurry to file the application.

“The notice of motion is hereby struck out,” Justice Mwita ruled.

In the case The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy moved to court to challenge the tender award to KPMG on December 16, 2016, after beating 12 other companies in the bid to scrutinise 15.85 million listed voters.

Through lawyer Anthony Olouch, the opposition coalition claimed that the tender award did not involve a professional and reputable firm to conduct an audit.

The petitioners further argued that no stakeholders including political parties were involved in the issuing of the tender and that Parliament had not yet amended election laws to allow an audit of the voter register.

He argued that the current intended audit of the register of voters is shrouded in secrecy and lack of accountability since no known criteria for it has been disclosed to ensure the objectives set out in law are realised.

On its part, the electoral body insisted that the court has no jurisdiction over the matter and implored it to dismiss it and direct CORD to lodge its discontent before the Public Procurement Review and Administrative Board (PPRAB).

Defending its decision to award the tender to KPMG, IEBC claimed that the audit firm attained the highest score for both the technical and financial proposals.