Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson, Ahmed Issack Hassan, claimed that he agreed to a deal with Royal Media Services (RMS) boss Samuel Kamau Macharia which left the commission charged with a Ksh203 million bill.
In his memoir Referee of a Dirty Ugly Game, Hassan recalled the day he met with S.K. Macharia, who offered to assist the IEBC in mobilising voters to register for the 2013 General Election.
According to Hassan, Macharia pointed out that the RMS had the capacity to mobilise due to the presence of many vernacular stations and possessions of trucks available for road shows.
Thinking that the matter was perceived as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Hassan claimed that IEBC's role would be only to foot the fuel costs for the road shows.
"I thanked him and later handed the matter over to Oswago (former IEBC CEO James Oswago) to take care of the costs for the road shows. Thinking that this was corporate social responsibility by operational aspect, as this was a secretariat function. I also went to the office of the RMS Group Managing Director, Mr. Wachira Waruru, for a courtesy call," he wrote.
Hassan alleged that he was not able to attend the roadshows despite receiving an invite but was later shocked to get an invoice worth Ksh203,840,000 for the work done.
He claimed that the matter raised questions among other media house bosses who went to his office the following day, demanding inclusion in all the commission's engagements.
The former IEBC boss affirmed that the Auditor General brought up the matter, poking holes into the huge bill and wondering why no payment was made for the services RMS offered. RMS then sued IEBC, particularly Hassan and Oswago.
In his application, Macharia alleged that Hassan initiated the contract, executed and endorsed by Oswago. In the case filed under number 352 of 2014, the RMS boss sought IEBC to make the payments.
"They sued IEBC for the amount in High Court Civil IEBC opposed, and I swore an affidavit to set the record straight. S.K. amended the claim and sued Oswago and I in our personal capacities. The case dragged on for some time until I left office," Hassan pointed out.
"When it was clear that I was to leave IEBC much later with an exit payment to court to attach my benefits from IEBC. I was the only witness to testify for myself and IEBC, while S.K. and his M.D Waruru testified for RMS," he added.
While delivering a ruling on April 5, 2019, High Court Judge Francis Tuiyott ruled that the commission was not liable to pay the contract and dismissed the case with costs.
"In regard to the liability of the second (Hassan) and third defendants (Oswago), this Court is unable to find any material that supports a proposition that the two were personally liable for the Plaintiff’s (RMS) claim," read part of the ruling.
According to Hassan, S.K. Macharia appealed the ruling at the Court of Appeal, and the case was yet to be determined prior to Hassan publishing his memoir.
