A corrupt and well connected nexus of individuals within IEBC who are linked to State House are piling pressure on CEO Ezra Chiloba to award Sh2.5 billion contract for supply of this year’s election ballot papers to Dubai based Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing Company.
The scam mover is IEBC Vice Chair Consolata-Nkatha Bucha Maina. The evil axis involves IEBC Secretariat staff, with egging from CEO Ezra Chiloba.
The team is eyeing a Ksh200 million bribe to give the contract to the firm that lost the deal after High Court nullified the same tender as earlier awarded to Al Ghuriar.
If awarded, observers say the opposition should consider August election rigged. Al Ghuriar has been mandated to print excess ballot papers, which Jubilee want to use for ballot stuffing. The opposition coalition had earlier successfully barred Al Ghuriar from printing ballot papers after IEBC awarded it the tender irregularly.
High Court quashed the tender in March, much to the chagrin of CEO Ezra Chiloba, who furiously swore to appeal the decision. This did not come to pass as IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati moved quick to reverse the decision, and announced that IEBC will do a fresh tender.
Chiloba, a malleable character with a profuse sense of self-entitlement, is among IEBC officials in a complex web of evildoers overworking to ensure the August election is rigged.
Ever since the new commission was forced on him and his cartel of directors at the IEBC Secretariat; Chiloba has done everything to weaken the power of commissioners, sometimes succeeding, other times failing terrible, when public pressure and the law is unleashed on him.
The silver-lining, according to sources, is a number of commissioners who have swore to deliver credible polls, but many are now getting bought out of the high pedestal of integrity.
Last week, IEBC called Raila Odinga to a consultative meeting where they discussed the issue of ballot papers among other things. Although Raila assured IEBC of his support for single sourcing, he made it clear that the tender can’t go to Al Ghurair.
Sources at IEBC intimate that at the head of the cartel is Vice Chair Consalata Nkatha Bucha Maina aka Connie “Conwoman” Maina, Director of Elections Immaculate Njenge-Kassait, a broker identified as Kairu and a state house operative.
Kairu who has been working as a broker in IEBC mega tenders since the time of Oswago has been bragging in town that they already have contract and it’s a matter of time before Al Ghurair gets the letter of award.
Kairu is a boyfriend to Immaculate both of whom come from Nyeri and although Immaculate is now married to Baringo County Speaker William Kassait Kamket, the two have been an item ever since they both left Nyeri for Nairobi on 2NK Matatu throbbing to E-sir’ Nimefika. The two are said to have recruited “Connie Conwoman” to the deal after introduction by a senior CID officer who helped clear her from allegations of killing her husband Maina Keengu, who hails from Ekerenyo in Nyamira County.
Connie who then eloped with her late husband’s best friend exiled herself to Australia where she is been hiding until late last year when she returned to apply for IEBC job, having been promised by Jubilee that she will succeed.
And to show how confident Al Ghurair is, its Sales and Marketing Manager identified as Abdul Kayum who is based in Dubai yesterday told one of their local agents that they already ordered for papers from China which they will use to print the estimated 120 million ballots.
On Monday night, IEBC held a plenary meeting where Connie pushed Chiloba to write to Al Ghurair informing them of the intent to visit their firm for a due diligence exercise but that flopped after the CEO told the commission that it was against the law for them to engage directly in procurement matters.
Chiloba is said to have asked the commissioners to seek legal advise from AG Githu Muigai on the level of their engagement in procurement matters or write to him stating that the commission has instructed the CEO to award the contract to Al Ghurair.
However the commissioners afraid of the ramifications of the move have chickened out but are using other underhand methods to push Chiloba. ‘Connie Conwoman’ has already convinced other commissioners that they can get up to sh200 million if they award the tender to Al Ghurair in spite of claims of corruption leveled against it.
She and her team fear dealing with two UK based firms G.I solutions Ltd and Tall Printing Ltd due the experience of Chicken Gate where British Form Smith and Ouzman was fingered by British laws.
There is real danger for them as Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is likely to detect any corruption if the firms dare give out kickbacks.
“Those pushing for Al Ghurair have convinced the commissioners that it’s easy to get monies in Dubai than London or even Nairobi and Johannesburg,” a senior IEBC official said.