Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has accused parliament of hypocrisy in regards to the suspension of the Huduma registration exercise
In the run-up to the August 2017 general election and the October 2017 repeat presidential polls, IEBC awarded OT Morpho tenders worth over Ksh.6 billion to provide election technology.
The former was reacting to parliament move to ban French firm IDEMIA Securities Limited, formerly OT Morpho, from doing business in Kenya for at least 10 years, citing a violation of the Companies Act.
MPs amended the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the audited accounts of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to have the technology firm held accountable for payments it received for contracts related to the 2017 General Election.
Boni said that it’s only the courts that can stop the registration based on the company that supplied the kits.
He said the MPs are just playing dirty politics with Huduma Number.
In its findings, the watchdog committee chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi found the French firm to have acted in breach of the law for not being registered locally as a foreign company.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) must investigate IDEMIA, with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) instituting appropriate criminal action in line with the Companies Act for purporting to do business with IEBC without being registered locally as required,” Mr. Wandayi said.
The committee also asked the procurement regulator — the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Board — to investigate IDEMIA and enter its name in the list of firms blacklisted from seeking State tenders.
“Why should they have double standards, what OT Morpho is doing in Kenya it can’t do in Paris or London, or USA…where you see such change of name, iko ukora…,” said Majority Leader Aden Duale.
Duale called for the investigation of the company.