The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) CEO Ezra Chiloba on Monday revealed that the body paid Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi Ksh40 Million for the 2013 presidential petition.
Appearing before a parliamentary watchdog committee, Chiloba disclosed that there was a “shortage” of good lawyers in Nairobi adding that the city lawyer had successfully demanded more pay during the negotiations.
“The money was settled on after negotiations. He had asked for more money,” he divulged.
He was responding to a query raised by Rarieda Member of Parliament (MP) Otiende Amollo on whether there was a conspiracy between the commission and its advocates to defraud taxpayers.
[caption caption="Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi (Twitter)"]
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“It appears to me that there was a conspiracy between IEBC and the advocates to make these huge amounts of payments. Why was Ahmednasir paid Ksh40 million more than the lead counsel in the case?" he posed.
Alongside Commissioners Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya, the watchdog committee chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi also questioned the trio why the commission surpassed its budget of legal fees by Ksh1 Billion.
The electoral agency explained that it paid 14 law firms Ksh380 Million to handle the presidential petition filed by opposition leader Raila Odinga against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory.
Mr Chiloba further pointed out that IEBC lead lawyer, Aurelio Rebelo, was paid Ksh30 Million while other lawyers were paid as high as Ksh25 Million.
He, however, asserted that IEBC had put in place guidelines on the amount lawyers should be paid depending on the type of cases they handled.
According to the report for 2015-16 financial years released by Auditor General Edward Ouko, the electoral agency paid 68 lawyers it hired for presidential and other petitions an extra Ksh1 Billion.
[caption caption="IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba (Twitter)"]
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“The commission as at June 30, 2013, had outstanding pending bills relating to legal fees totalling Ksh1,054,889,115," part of the report noted.
