The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been summoned by the Public Accounts Committee (PSC) to explain why it paid lawyers involved in 2013 election petitions Sh2.1 billion instead of Sh1 billion.
Chair of the committee, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi also wants the electoral body to justify an inflated cost for biometric voter registration (BVR) kits.
The original cost was to amount to Sh31.7 Million whereas the final cost almost tripled to Sh93.3 Million.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and CEO Ezra Chiloba are expected to appear in front of the watchdog committee for a four-day grilling.
Among issues to be raised are the findings of the Auditor-General Edward Ouko's 2015-2016 financial report where the electoral body could not account for Sh5.4 billion.
[caption caption="Auditor-General Edward Ouko"]
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In the report, Mr Ouko challenged IEBC's procedures that cost Sh1.6 billion for the supply, delivery, installation, training, testing and commissioning of 30,000 electronic voter identification devices (EVIDs) in the 2013 General Elections.
Another question raised during the audit was why the electoral body paid lawyers an extra Sh1 Billion to handle the presidential and other petitions in 2013.
The discrepancy was discovered when legal fees as at June 2013 showed Sh1.05 Billion - but the records showed that the commission paid Sh2.2 Billion to the advocates.
Also, a mystery is how five law firms that were not pre-qualified to represent IEBC were paid Sh17.8 Million.
The commission is also expected to explain why it paid for services not delivered after the report revealed that Sh220.4 million was paid for 290 printers as opposed to the 337 ordered for.
[caption caption="IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and CEO Ezra Chiloba "]
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