IEBC Commissioners led by Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan will on Tuesday meet the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) over a variety of issues affecting the electoral process.
In particular, the agenda agreed with JLAC includes; The Commission’s budget for 2016/2017 and the General Election; 2013 pending bills report; Status of the draft referendum bill and the Commission’s position on the report by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The Commission has agreed with the National Treasury on a budget of Sh18.97 billion for the 2016/17 financial year.
The budget covers the cost of the general election including the non-strategic election material, voter registration, Diaspora, training, voter education and outreach, and election technology among others.
The electoral body has urged Parliament to support it in ensuring that adequate resources are allocated to allow for early preparations for the coming elections.
IEBC said it was concerned over misrepresentation and misreporting of facts by PAC.
A PAC report indicated that Sh3.9 billion was lost in the government-to-government procurement deal for the Biometric Voter Registration kits with Canada, after the Commission allegedly bungled the open tendering process.
The Committee further raises queries as to why the government secured a loan from the Standard Chartered Bank for the purchase of the kits despite the National Treasury having already allocated money for the same. The kits failed to work.
IEBC Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba has also been accused of releasing Sh300 million in pending bills to suppliers yet such payments had been stopped pending scrutiny of all vouchers.