MPs Vote to Block Firm That Won Huduma Namba Contract

MPs on Wednesday voted to block IDEMIA Securities, which was awarded Huduma Namba contract, from doing business in Kenya for at least 10 years over violation of the law.

The French firm was awarded the Ksh6 Billion contract and the move by the MPs is likely to have ripple effects on the ongoing Huduma Namba registration exercise.

The legislators argued that the company violated the Companies Act while amending the report of the House Committee on Public Accounts on the audited accounts of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The MP stated that the technology firm should be held accountable for irregular payments it received during the 2017 polls.

Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma observed that the recommendations by the committee left the French firm without any repercussions.

“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations must investigate IDEMIA, with the Director of Public Prosecution instituting appropriate criminal action in line with the Companies Act, for purporting to do business with the IEBC without being registered locally as required," he noted.

Echoing his sentiments, House Majority Leader Aden Duale stated that the French firm which had changed its name three times in the past five years was a threat to credible elections in the country.

“This company was invited by the PAC but failed to honour the invitations until it was compelled to do so. Companies that do business in Kenya must be ready to follow our laws,”

“Otherwise they get into corruption, unethical behaviour. They don’t employ our people. They must do business ethically. The same way they do it in France," he stated.

The firm made headlines in 2017 when it was named OT-Morpho where it supplied the  Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) which were at the centre of election malpractice claims in the disputed polls. 

Prior to that, in 2013, the firm then called Safran Morpho supplied the multi-billion Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits.

 

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