The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Monday, March 13, was tasked to explain how it had lost 952 laptops and 125 biometrics kits.
The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) grilled IEBC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hussein Marjan over the disappearance of the key equipment.
In his response, the CEO admitted that the BVR kits had been lost over time but argued that some of the cases were still ongoing.
Marjan was responding to the PAC team, led by Nominated MP John Badi, who questioned him on how such a consignment could disappear without the commission’s knowledge.
“Elections are about integrity; does it concern you that 952 laptops containing data for election purposes were lost in one warehouse?" Lugari Member of Parliament Nabii Nabwera asked Marjan.
The laptops were reportedly lost in a warehouse in Kisumu and had contained important election data.
Following up on Nabwera’s question, Mbadi further demanded answers on how the commission had lost 125 Biometrics Voter Registration (BVR) kits.
“Between April 31 and July 21, 125 BVR kits got lost, how can equipment as important as this could get lost without the commission knowing how exactly it got lost?” Mbadi inquired.
In his response, Marjan answered, “The BVR kits were lost over time. If you look at the investigations, some cases have been concluded while others are going on.”
The CEO was further tasked to explain why IEBC was requesting Ksh4 billion from the commission and explained that the money was aimed at settling pending bills stemming from the August 9, 2022, General Election.
He noted that the Commission was yet to pay suppliers who provided equipment for the national event.
“I have written so many times to the National Treasury for them to provide me with adequate funding.
“This election that was done in 2022, we were not given a budget for our activities despite having the mandate to deliver election on a specific date,” he defended the hefty pending bill.
Heading to 2022 general election, former IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati had decried the lack of funding from the Treasury.
“We call on our lawmakers who approve budgets to allocate more funds for voter education. We also need some electoral reforms to make voter registration easier, possibly online,” IEBC requested additional funding back then.
