Why anxiety reigns over IEBC plan for BVR kits

By Martin Mutua and Ben Agina

Confusion reigned over reported acquisition of Biometric Voter Registration kits by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission after it turned out only 200 sets had been procured.

Curiously, sources within the electoral body and Justice ministry claim even these sets are dummies, as they were delivered as samples for trials.

“The BVR kits are not available on demand, they have to be prepared once an order is made and procurement conditions are met. As of now, IEBC has not delivered the documents that would assure the French manufacturers that the deal is irreversible and it can start preparing the kits,’’ explained the sources familiar with the acquisition procedure.

“Even the contract has not been signed, it has to go through the Attorney General...what we have are 190 sample kits. There is a lot of anxiety at IEBC as to whether it is ready for the national exercise. We just know that 2,000 kits are ready in France,’’ added another source familiar with the process.

It also turned out Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa got his facts wrong when he told the Press on Tuesday all the 15, 000 kits required for the March 4 exercise had arrived. On Wednesday, the minister clarified so far only 1,700 kits had arrived and that the rest were expected by the end of this month.

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He had earlier indicated all the kits had been delivered, but revised the figure to 5,000 on Wednesday. After consulting IEBC chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan, the minister later told The Standard as a matter of fact only 1,700 kits were delivered.

But the confusion rose when IEBC officials further clarified that out of the 1,700 Wamalwa talked about, only 200 were BVR kits while the other 1,500 were fingerprint readers.

This set off the question whether IEBC will start voter registration on November 1, given the procurement is still at its infancy, and the Letter of Credit – issued by a bank – which assures the supplier of irrevocable payment deal and guarantees the time of payment and the amount in question is not ready. 

Furthermore, there is still the challenge of freighting the kits sources estimate to weigh 400,000kg, and distribution locally and training of staff on its use.

On Wednesday, speaking to The Standard from Gaberone, Botswana, Hassan explained IEBC could not begin the registration with only 200 kits. “We will only begin the training after receiving 5,000 kits, which we expect at the end of the month. But I have asked the Chief Executive Officer James Oswago to allow journalists to see what we have in the warehouse,” explained Hassan.

The chairman, however, indicated the companies that lost the bid to supply the kits could be the ones raising issues.

Speaking to The Standard in Nairobi, Hassan’s deputy Lillian Mahiri-Zaja also confirmed IEBC had received the first batch of the kits.

“We have received the first batch of BVR kits and we are expecting more, which we are going to use in the exercise that starts next week,” said Mahiri-Zaja.

Logistical challenge

An independent source, however, told The Standard that transporting the BVR kits from Paris to Nairobi could still pose a logistical challenge because the total weight of 15,000 kits is about 400 tonnes.

“They may require to hire two large cargo jumbos to ferry the cargo to Nairobi or take over a week getting them here by sea,” said the source, adding this is assuming that they are ready.

It also emerged the deadline for the Letter of Credit sent by the Government, as guarantee through its bankers to the suppliers, was November 14.

The supply will therefore have to be effected within 21 days as the contractual agreement whose deadline comes in the first week of November.

From the foregoing, it appears then that the kits will arrive earliest next week and latest in two weeks, assuming the supplier has prepared them ahead of getting the Letter of Credit.

No training

Though the contract was signed and October 8 was to be effective date, there was an obligation for the provision of a letter of credit of 60 per cent of contract amount by Kenyan authorities, according to our investigations.

But we could not confirm whether this was done by the October 15 deadline, failure to which the delivery would further be delayed.

It means that the training of staff cannot happen until the kits are delivered. But other sources further revealed BVR kits are only assembled after an order has been received and that could also take time.

On Wednesday, Eugene conceded “there has been very poor communication from IEBC on matters pertaining the elections,” adding this had caused “a lot of anxiety”.

“I agree there is very poor communication from IEBC, which ought not to be the case as there is a chief executive and a communications department,” he said.

“The chairman is out of the country, but he will be returning at the end of the week and once he is here we shall hold a media conference to clarify these issues,” he assured.

Wamalwa also promised to take the media to the warehouse where the BVR kits would be stored once they arrive “at the end of the month”.

The minister said the recruitment and training of clerks who will operate the kits would be concluded by the end of the month.

The twist of events follows concerns that have been growing over the controversy around the purchase and acquisition of 15,000 BVR kits that are supposed to be used in preparation for the March 4 General Election.

With five months before the polls there have been anxiety over whether the IEBC will meet the deadline to register about 18 million voters in accordance with the set timelines.

IEBC is racing against time as it seeks to ensure that the country gets free, and fair elections.

None of their programmes geared towards the coming polls have been implemented apart from the delimitation of boundaries unveiled on Wednesday, through advertisements in newspapers.  The BVR kits are supposed to improve the accuracy of the voter register.  They are also aimed at eliminating double registration and “dead voters” estimated at 2,000,000 in the 2007 elections.

Deal reached

IEBC launched civic education for voters two weeks ago, considering the polls will be under a new constitutional dispensation.

When the deal to acquire the kits from Canada was struck during a special meeting chaired by President Kibaki at Harambee House in August, it was also resolved that the Government would bring an amendment Bill to shorten the period for closure of the voter register from three months to two.

So far that amendment has not been published and neither is it anywhere near Parliament for debate and passage.

On Tuesday IEBC officials Oswago and the Public relations Manager Tabitha Mutemi declined to comment on the status of BVR acquisition.