Just how much rot is there in Kenya’s Electoral body? The commission has lately been embroiled in controveries around misuse of public funds and plunder of public resources.
The latest report by the Auditor General is likely to shock Kenyans even more after revelations that IEBC cannot account for close to Sh800 million it spent on procurement of catering services and payment of the national tallying centre that was used in the 2017 general election.
In a report tabled in the National Assembly, Auditor General Edward Ouko raised concern over irregular payment of Sh691.5 million that Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission incurred on catering services.
According to Ouko, contracts for the provision of catering services were awarded to the service providers based on predetermined rates issued from the commission’s headquarters which was in complete disregard to Article 227 (1) of the Constitution which requires fairness and transparency in procurement.
The latest bombshell by the Auditor General’s comes after he had earlier revealed wrongdoing in the procurement of both hardware and software for last year’s August 8th General Election and the October 26 fresh presidential poll that followed.
The report detailed how records were falsified to cover-up unnecessary expenditure on hardware for the fresh presidential poll, how double payments were made to the Al Ghurair printing firm and how the commission inexplicably paid out hundreds of millions of shillings for software, against expert advice.
The amount in question totals 9.2 billion shillings with the IEBC spending spree coming as a slap in the face of the millions of Kenyans who now have to toil that much harder to make ends meet as they shoulder a punitive tax burden.