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Post by phil on Nov 1, 2012 12:00:45 GMT 3
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Post by phil on Nov 1, 2012 12:29:56 GMT 3
Even as the BVR kits arrive, the overall cost has risen from Sh3.9bn to Sh5bn and now stands at 9bn all in a space of 4 months - thats an increase of more than 100% www.businessdailyafrica.com/Treasury+under+the+spotlight+as+cost+of+poll+kits+rises/-/539546/1605506/-/sw8klrz/-/index.htmlRIP OFF! We need to establish who are the local agents of Saphran Morpho and why the GoK declined a free offer from USA but accepted this costly offer from Canada who then sourced the material from France!!! The details of the contract with Morpho are also scanty but sources reveal that despite this being a government to government deal the AG did not counter sign this contract as witness, and it was only the Treasury Financial Secretary and the IEBC CEO who signed the documents - which were further discrepant in that there was no performance bond required from the seller..... a performance bond is a standard requirement for all public procurement deals. It raises eyebrows because this is a high security contract. Thus, should the kits fail or be found to be sub-standard, Sh9b will have gone down the drain and the elections will be compromised. That is PNU wing of government running the show!!
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Post by kamalet on Nov 1, 2012 12:35:45 GMT 3
Even as the BVR kits arrive, the overall cost has risen from Sh3.9bn to Sh5bn and now stands at 9bn all in a space of 4 months - thats an increase of more than 100% www.businessdailyafrica.com/Treasury+under+the+spotlight+as+cost+of+poll+kits+rises/-/539546/1605506/-/sw8klrz/-/index.htmlRIP OFF! We need to establish who are the local agents of Saphran Morpho and why the GoK declined a free offer from USA but accepted this costly offer from Canada who then sourced the material from France!!! The details of the contract with Morpho are also scanty but sources reveal that despite this being a government to government deal the AG did not counter sign this contract as witness, and it was only the Treasury Financial Secretary and the IEBC CEO who signed the documents - which were further discrepant in that there was no performance bond required from the seller..... a performance bond is a standard requirement for all public procurement deals. It raises eyebrows because this is a high security contract. Thus, should the kits fail or be found to be sub-standard, Sh9b will have gone down the drain and the elections will be compromised. That is PNU wing of government running the show!! Phil Did you miss the TV remarks by Githae on why the cost increased from the original tender specs by IEBC in the presence of IEBC chairman? If what Githae said is true, then there may be merit in the increased cost. How this is said to be a PNU govt wing running the show whilst the other day we had the PM address the nation (AS YOU CALLED IT) on the matter of the funding of the deal?
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Post by phil on Nov 1, 2012 13:06:41 GMT 3
Even as the BVR kits arrive, the overall cost has risen from Sh3.9bn to Sh5bn and now stands at 9bn all in a space of 4 months - thats an increase of more than 100% www.businessdailyafrica.com/Treasury+under+the+spotlight+as+cost+of+poll+kits+rises/-/539546/1605506/-/sw8klrz/-/index.htmlRIP OFF! We need to establish who are the local agents of Saphran Morpho and why the GoK declined a free offer from USA but accepted this costly offer from Canada who then sourced the material from France!!! The details of the contract with Morpho are also scanty but sources reveal that despite this being a government to government deal the AG did not counter sign this contract as witness, and it was only the Treasury Financial Secretary and the IEBC CEO who signed the documents - which were further discrepant in that there was no performance bond required from the seller..... a performance bond is a standard requirement for all public procurement deals. It raises eyebrows because this is a high security contract. Thus, should the kits fail or be found to be sub-standard, Sh9b will have gone down the drain and the elections will be compromised. That is PNU wing of government running the show!! Phil Did you miss the TV remarks by Githae on why the cost increased from the original tender specs by IEBC in the presence of IEBC chairman? If what Githae said is true, then there may be merit in the increased cost. How this is said to be a PNU govt wing running the show whilst the other day we had the PM address the nation (AS YOU CALLED IT) on the matter of the funding of the deal? You certainly do not expect the PM to use OPM platform to criticize the government he is supposed to co-ordinate and supervise do you. In digesting my comments above, please take this thread wholistically ; we have been pursuing the IEBC on this tender for close to a year now and you know there is a lot of irregularities in the deal. Nothing can justify more than doubling the budget in singiluarly sourced deal like this, especially when there was a publicly announced offer to be given the kits at no cost.
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Post by kamalet on Nov 1, 2012 13:17:42 GMT 3
You certainly do not expect the PM to use OPM platform to criticize the government he is supposed to co-ordinate and supervise do you. In digesting my comments above, please take this thread wholistically ; we have been pursuing the IEBC on this tender for close to a year now and you know there is a lot of irregularities in the deal. Nothing can justify more than doubling the budget in singiluarly sourced deal like this, especially when there was a publicly announced offer to be given the kits at no cost. Phil My beef is you attempt at blaming PNU only! The PM came to assure us all that the money is there and will be paid for the kits to be with us today! The honesty of the deal is something else everyone in government will be responsible for and this includes the PM.
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Post by Omwenga on Nov 1, 2012 13:35:42 GMT 3
Even as the BVR kits arrive, the overall cost has risen from Sh3.9bn to Sh5bn and now stands at 9bn all in a space of 4 months - thats an increase of more than 100% www.businessdailyafrica.com/Treasury+under+the+spotlight+as+cost+of+poll+kits+rises/-/539546/1605506/-/sw8klrz/-/index.htmlRIP OFF! We need to establish who are the local agents of Saphran Morpho and why the GoK declined a free offer from USA but accepted this costly offer from Canada who then sourced the material from France!!! The details of the contract with Morpho are also scanty but sources reveal that despite this being a government to government deal the AG did not counter sign this contract as witness, and it was only the Treasury Financial Secretary and the IEBC CEO who signed the documents - which were further discrepant in that there was no performance bond required from the seller..... a performance bond is a standard requirement for all public procurement deals. It raises eyebrows because this is a high security contract. Thus, should the kits fail or be found to be sub-standard, Sh9b will have gone down the drain and the elections will be compromised. That is PNU wing of government running the show!! Phil,This is for another day or at least not in this thread but I can briefly share a few years ago, our company offered to GoK a population management technology package that would have included voter registration. Had the government taken that package, we would have provided a solution that would have now in comparison cost much, much less for voter registration while the overall benefit to the Republic would have been exponential in that the package contained more, including full-proof system to eliminate fraud in social security and pensions management. I was actually motivated to pursue this project after spending months tracking pension belonging to my late brother was stolen and I had to pay to educate my nephews and nieces when there was money meant precisely for this purpose following the death of my brother, an acting DC then. Ironically, we managed to track the theft to none other than another DC! How pathetic is that...anyway, let me not going on that one. We abandoned this project for reasons I need not get into and to this day, I am monitoring and seeing piece-meal implementation of some aspect of it which the government said was a priority by others without the net effect--or even anything close. Let's just say people are eating slowly and nicely without delivering a solution as usual with this. There is absolutely no reason we could not have comprehensive solutions to these problems; they are broken down into disjunctive parts so there is more opportunity to eat. You ask why a free package was rejected? I am sure that's got to be a rhetorical question for the answer is obvious! I was at a meeting just the other day discussing with a World Bank official an identical problem related to another project I am working on, namely, piece-meal implementation rather than comprehensive and standardized implementation which the former often results in duplication and "waste" one can only hope this nonsense will come to an end with the new government. I put waste in quotes because it's really not waste but a lining of pockets so it's waste only in the expenditure of public funds sense but not from the perspective of those who so line up their pockets.
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Post by phil on Nov 1, 2012 17:36:15 GMT 3
OmwengaAgreed. It seems this was about lining some pockets whilst trying very hard to sabotage the electoral process. It is a choreographed arrangement and we have to count on the coalition arrangement that has acted well checking and balancing as well as the new constitution. Do we know whether the expensive gadgets will work well? Let's wait and see.
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Post by kamalet on Nov 1, 2012 20:08:48 GMT 3
OmwengaAgreed. It seems this was about lining some pockets whilst trying very hard to sabotage the electoral process. It is a choreographed arrangement and we have to count on the coalition arrangement that has acted well checking and balancing as well as the new constitution. Do we know whether the expensive gadgets will work well? Let's wait and see. The moment this thing became a govt to govt deal several things happened. the doors to eat were closed. But the doors to circumvent the procurement laws were opened making variations that would not have been possible under the law. What worries me however is the new onslaught by ODM characters to start crying rigging even before voter registration has started and evidence available to suggest behaviour that would point at rigging. I am yet to get that feeling......but I am sure you know she I am going with this!
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Post by phil on Nov 4, 2012 14:56:07 GMT 3
GOVERNMENT LOSES BILLIONS IN BVR DEAL Saturday, November 3, 2012 - 00:00 -- BY WALTER MENYA...
The Biometric Voter Registration kits purchase agreement was lopsided and this could cost the country huge sums of money lost. The Kenya government will pay nearly double the purchase price for the kits in the agreement with its Canadian counterpart.
According to the contract, the price quoted by the Canadian Commercial Corporation for the 15,000 BVR kits was Sh6.1 billion (€56.21 million) payable in four instalments of 40 per cent as downpayment, 45 per cent at delivery, five per cent and the final bit of 10 per cent upon satisfactory voter registration.
However, the Kenya government has paid Sh2.4 billion or 40 per cent as downpayment and taken a loan of Sh7.2 billion from Standard Chartered Bank, bringing the price to Sh9.6 billion (€88.52 million).
The price seems to have jumped as a result of the obligations the government agreed to undertake. The purchase price quoted in the agreement excluded the Value Added Tax, withholding taxes, duties, customs charges or “other charges which may be claimed, collected or retained in Kenya, by any central or local authority or any official.”
Furthermore, the government will be required to foot further bills that may arise in case the voter registration is extended beyond 30 days. “The price specified above is valid for the time schedule set forth … and in particular for an enrolment period of 30 days as set forth therein,” Article 4.5 of the agreement states.
In the event that the registration period is delayed or extended, the agreement states the government and CCC will enter fresh negotiations. “The purchaser (government of Kenya) agrees that it shall pay CCC any additional weeks of operations support and maintenance at the prices agreed during such negotiations,” states Article 4.5 of the purchase agreement, a copy of which the Star has obtained.
The agreement places most of the obligations on the government and IEBC which CCC could use to terminate the deal. For instance, the IEBC has the obligation to clear the consignment at the airport. The clearance, Article 6 says, must be done within 24 hours upon arrival.
The CCC’s obligation is only tied to transport of the consignment to IEBC’s warehouse and guaranteeing the intellectual property rights patent and copyright of both the hardware and software.
The agreement was signed by CCC’s director for Business Development and Sales Donald Olsen, Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua and IEBC secretary James Oswago.
Neither the Treasury nor the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission have comment on the huge variation in price which has drawn criticism from lobby groups.
Ndung’u Wainaina, the executive director of the International Center for Policy and Conflict, protested. “Initially it was the unheard figure of Sh3.9 billion for the exercise. It is now costing taxpayers a whopping Sh9.6 billion, some of the money being a commercial bank loan. This is massive rip off! And even with this outright theft, viability of credible, secure and democratic elections is not there yet,” said Ndung'u.
The Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua has expressed concern over how the cost of the BVR kits rose to eclipse the highest bidder in the initial tender that was cancelled.
The government signed a loan facility of Sh7.2 billion with Standard Chartered Bank to pay for the kits from French company Morpho. The kits began arriving on Thursday with some more expected this Sunday.
The IEB on Thursday received 8,200 BVR kits from the French manufacturer. The kits arrived aboard an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight ending the anxiety over a possible return to manual voter registration and the election date being pushed back to August.
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Post by Omwenga on Nov 4, 2012 20:31:37 GMT 3
GOVERNMENT LOSES BILLIONS IN BVR DEAL Saturday, November 3, 2012 - 00:00 -- BY WALTER MENYA...
The Biometric Voter Registration kits purchase agreement was lopsided and this could cost the country huge sums of money lost. The Kenya government will pay nearly double the purchase price for the kits in the agreement with its Canadian counterpart.
According to the contract, the price quoted by the Canadian Commercial Corporation for the 15,000 BVR kits was Sh6.1 billion (€56.21 million) payable in four instalments of 40 per cent as downpayment, 45 per cent at delivery, five per cent and the final bit of 10 per cent upon satisfactory voter registration.
However, the Kenya government has paid Sh2.4 billion or 40 per cent as downpayment and taken a loan of Sh7.2 billion from Standard Chartered Bank, bringing the price to Sh9.6 billion (€88.52 million).
The price seems to have jumped as a result of the obligations the government agreed to undertake. The purchase price quoted in the agreement excluded the Value Added Tax, withholding taxes, duties, customs charges or “other charges which may be claimed, collected or retained in Kenya, by any central or local authority or any official.”
Furthermore, the government will be required to foot further bills that may arise in case the voter registration is extended beyond 30 days. “The price specified above is valid for the time schedule set forth … and in particular for an enrolment period of 30 days as set forth therein,” Article 4.5 of the agreement states.
In the event that the registration period is delayed or extended, the agreement states the government and CCC will enter fresh negotiations. “The purchaser (government of Kenya) agrees that it shall pay CCC any additional weeks of operations support and maintenance at the prices agreed during such negotiations,” states Article 4.5 of the purchase agreement, a copy of which the Star has obtained.
The agreement places most of the obligations on the government and IEBC which CCC could use to terminate the deal. For instance, the IEBC has the obligation to clear the consignment at the airport. The clearance, Article 6 says, must be done within 24 hours upon arrival.
The CCC’s obligation is only tied to transport of the consignment to IEBC’s warehouse and guaranteeing the intellectual property rights patent and copyright of both the hardware and software.
The agreement was signed by CCC’s director for Business Development and Sales Donald Olsen, Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua and IEBC secretary James Oswago.
Neither the Treasury nor the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission have comment on the huge variation in price which has drawn criticism from lobby groups.
Ndung’u Wainaina, the executive director of the International Center for Policy and Conflict, protested. “Initially it was the unheard figure of Sh3.9 billion for the exercise. It is now costing taxpayers a whopping Sh9.6 billion, some of the money being a commercial bank loan. This is massive rip off! And even with this outright theft, viability of credible, secure and democratic elections is not there yet,” said Ndung'u.
The Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua has expressed concern over how the cost of the BVR kits rose to eclipse the highest bidder in the initial tender that was cancelled.
The government signed a loan facility of Sh7.2 billion with Standard Chartered Bank to pay for the kits from French company Morpho. The kits began arriving on Thursday with some more expected this Sunday.
The IEB on Thursday received 8,200 BVR kits from the French manufacturer. The kits arrived aboard an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight ending the anxiety over a possible return to manual voter registration and the election date being pushed back to August.
Phil,It is often said the more things change the more the remain the same and this is Exhibit A, namely, with the advent of new constitutionalism and adherence to the rule of law--or at least a purported adherence to the rule of law with a view of ending impunity and corruption, the good old MO of siphoning public funds for personal benefit is alive and well. Cost inflation is an age old MO for those bent on lining their pockets so it should not surprise anyone someone or some people are laughing all the way to the bank with a windfall of an excess of 5 billion just from this one transaction. I was about to say the new government better put a stop on this in your face lining of pockets lest I temporarily renounce my citizenship and move next door as a conscientious refugee but on second thought I am optimistically reminded it's Raila who shall head that government, which means this level of lining of pockets and government waste from the taxpayers perspective shall be put to an end--or at least significantly scaled back where even a bit will and shall make an economic difference and change of living conditions for our people.
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Post by phil on Nov 5, 2012 9:28:03 GMT 3
Phil,It is often said the more things change the more the remain the same and this is Exhibit A, namely, with the advent of new constitutionalism and adherence to the rule of law--or at least a purported adherence to the rule of law with a view of ending impunity and corruption, the good old MO of siphoning public funds for personal benefit is alive and well. Cost inflation is an age old MO for those bent on lining their pockets so it should not surprise anyone someone or some people are laughing all the way to the bank with a windfall of an excess of 5 billion just from this one transaction. I was about to say the new government better put a stop on this in your face lining of pockets lest I temporarily renounce my citizenship and move next door as a conscientious refugee but on second thought I am optimistically reminded it's Raila who shall head that government, which means this level of lining of pockets and government waste from the taxpayers perspective shall be put to an end--or at least significantly scaled back where even a bit will and shall make an economic difference and change of living conditions for our people. It's daylight robbery - whichever way you look at it, Kenyan tax payers are once again on the receiving end. It was all carefully planned and executed. Create a crisis that then forces the public procurement law to be thrown out of the window and then suddenly you create overnight billionaires. Let's hope this voter registration goes well. It is important that it succeeds.
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Post by b6k on Nov 5, 2012 17:08:14 GMT 3
Definitely a high price to pay but as the IEBC says they are now training the 29,000 clerks required to complete the registration exercise: www.iebc.or.ke/index.php/news-archive/278-november-2012/410-8000-voter-registration-kits-arriveSadly this is where we go wrong in planning. Rather than purchase a full electronic voting solution, we get one that only does registration/identification. When we inevitably go to the next level (smart cards) with our national ID's will we have to purchase yet more BVR type kits? When KRA goes hi-tech with PIN certificates will that require yet another costly solution? Same thing with driver's licenses. If there were a way the same equipment could be used for all those other ID requirements (or if the IEBC could share the data with the other bodies) it would be great. The one positive thing out of this IEBC saga is at least in theory, dead (wo)men won't vote this time around...
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Post by phil on Nov 11, 2012 9:08:04 GMT 3
Kamale, You ought to check and verify what Omwenga is saying before you publish such uninformed responses. First, it is a fact that the IIEC/IEBC did not tender for the ballot papers for the mock elections. If they did, you may want to publish the copy of the advert here for Jukwaa to see. I can lead you to their tender page, and there is nowhere that it shows the did advertise tenders for printing of ballot papers and it is obvious that these were single sourced through the well connected companies currently doing business with the commission courtesy of their links to the commissioners and management of the IIEC/IEBC. Here in Kenya and the region, it is only De La Rue of Ruaraka who have the machinery and technical know-how of security printing standards normally required of ballot papers. But which is the company that supplied these ballots? www.iebc.or.ke/index.php/Tenders/ (this link is on/off, but it has all the tender records for the last few years!)Even if the IIEC/IEBC went for quotations, when were these firms prequalified and shortlisted? Wapi advert? You may also want to know that the IIEC never advertised tenders for printing of the ballot papers for the 2010 referendum and these were single sourced from a well connected firm that is linked to some of the commissioners including the Chairman himself. This was a tender that was worth at least half a million USD. And what does the law says about such tenders, Mr. Kamale? Secondly, there is one hot tender at IEBC whose submission closed beginning of this week, that is for the Biometric Voter Registration Solution (BVR). This tender was all wrong from the beginning. The technical specifications are such that they are prepared by a well known vendor, and the delivery demands of the solution is such that only a vendor who had prepared themselves in advance could meet the provisions of the tender. And to prove this to you, I can reveal that more than 80 local and international firms bought the tender from IEBC for Kshs. 5000, but only about 30 firms were able to return their bids despite a one week extension on the submission deadline. What do these events tell you? Is it normal for 80 reputable firms to express an interest but only 30% of them are actually able to bid? Something is not right here! Is the IEBC intending to be fair during the elections when they are already engaging in corrupt and irregular tendering during the procurement stage? The BVR tender is worth billions of shillings and some PNU insiders are already looking at a campaign funds cash cow with blessings from a majority of IEBC commissioners. We are watching this tender very very closely and if need be, we shall publish the names behind the irregularities and the firms involved, and we list out the names of their directors. It is a poorly kept secret the Isaak Hassan and his close-knit group of commissioners and managers are frustrating the CEO and have been working with their political god fathers to have him hounded out of office, beginning with the advertisement for the post of the CEO. Instead of being non-partisan, Hassan is covertly working at the behest of PNU and their affilliates and his response to the attempted expulsion of some ODM rebels by the party bear me witness. Kamale, the tender for multi-bilion third generation national identity cards has been readvertised several times over the last few years and the last tender process of 2009-2010 has run into a brickwall after a couple of favoured companies were shortlisted by OP. Thanks to the coalition arrangement otherwise this was another Anglo-fleecing in the making. Care to check and report back to Jukwaa? I agree with Omwenga that the IEBC is compromised and working towards defeating democracy in the forthcoming general elections. Shindwe!!This is specifically a public lesson for kamalet. And before you start writing your predictable defensive response, try and dig a little deeper into who represents the interests of this company that IEBC has been single sourcing for ballot papers since ECK left the scene. Please also note, ballot papers are one of the last items to be printed in any election because it comes AFTER political parties have nominated candidates and their photos together with party symbols are printed on each of the ballot papers. So the issue of having run out of time does not arise here since nomination stage is yet to come, and election date is still months away. Besides, there are at least a two dozen firms globally who qualified security printers who can supply 20million ballots within 2-4 weeks after approval of artworks!! We know which commissioner gains financially from this tender, and that of ballot boxes and other electoral material. Many months down the line, after you kamalet became so dismissive of our concerns we blew the whistle and exactly what I predicted about ballot papers is what the Hassan-led IEBC wants to do! Soma hapa. IEBC could face new storm for decision on single sourcing
PHOTO | FILE The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials demonstrate the registration process using the BVR kits. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By MUGUMO MUNENE Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 00:30
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is courting a new storm over the acquisition of ballot papers for next year’s General Election expected to cost the taxpayer up to Sh3 billion.
The commission, which is recovering from a crisis caused by the controversial acquisition of electronic voter registration kits, has now identified British firm Smith & Ouzman without going through a tendering process and three months to the election on March 4.
The commission identified Smith & Ouzman after it became apparent that it did no have enough time to place the multi-billion-shilling tender to competitive bidding.
Single sourcing means the commission has directly identified, an arrangement is likely to drive up costs significantly.
Competitive bidding, on the other hand, would ensure that the commission and taxpayers get better value for money by identifying a supplier to do the job at the lowest price possible.
The Sunday Nation has established that a ballot paper would cost anything between Sh12 and Sh25 depending on the specifications, deadlines and the supplier.
Sources also said that the commission may at any time award the tender for the supply of the ballots to the same company that supplied materials for the recent by-elections.
The Sunday Nation has seen a copy of the 87-page tender document that had been prepared for competitive bidding but which has now been shelved in favour of the British firm.
According to the commission sources, it will take an estimated 120 million ballot papers to cater for an estimated 20 million voters.
Each voter will vote six times – for president, governor, senator, women’s representative, an MP and a county representative – on separate ballot papers.
In addition to the ballot papers, IEBC is also expected to buy tens of thousands of indelible ink marker pens which will be used to mark those who will have cast their votes.
British firm Smith & Ouzman supplied ballot papers for the recent by-elections at a cost of about Sh25 each and a marker pen for Sh300, documents seen by the Sunday Nation show.
Smith & Ouzman say on their website that they have been in the security printing business since 1845 and their job includes voucher printing, examination certificates, cheques and ballot papers.
According to the commission spokeswoman Tabitha Mutemi, the current crisis that pushed the commission to go for single sourcing was touched off by the previous one of the BVR kits which introduced constraints.
“Everything was in place until the BVR tender was terminated. The government came in. The commission had to do what it had to do to ensure that elections take place on March 4,” Ms Mutemi said.
“If that had not been, we would have had time. The ballot papers are not like BVR. They are high security and take time to prepare and print. Right now you know we are using an estimate of the number of voters. We cannot wait any longer, training has to go on. Every staff member has to be individually assessed after training. All this has to go on,” the spokeswoman said.
In a telephone interview with the Sunday Nation on Saturday night, Ms Mutemi said she did not have the figures on the price but defended the commission on the move it made to pick Smith & Ouzman as the supplier.
“We are confident that the taxpayers’ interests have been taken into account. Anyone who would like can come and inspect the documents,” she said.
Ms Mutemi said that the commission would have needed up to eight months to tender for the procurement of ballot papers and opted to go for single sourcing in order to save time.
A new supplier would have needed six months to prepare, print and deliver the ballot papers unlike Smith & Ouzman who, she said, were “tried and tested” as they had worked with IEBC during the referendum and the recent by-elections.
“The commission and the tender committee approved the single sourcing because of the timing; Smith and Ouzman has been tried and tested and we have to have a supplier in place even as we wait for other activities like party nominations to take place,” Ms Mutemi said.
The latest questions over the acquisition of ballot papers and marker pens come a week after the commission weathered a major storm touched off by internal wrangles over the purchase of electronic voter registration equipment commonly known as biometric voter registration kits.
The storm over the BVR kits blew out of the IEBC boardrooms two months ago forcing the Cabinet to step in and direct that the government would participate in the purchase.
There was a sigh of relief on Thursday last week after the first batch of the registration equipment arrived, clearing the way for listing of voters ahead of the General Election.
The kits will cost the country Sh7.2 billion.
Currently, the commission is training staff on the use of the kits before the start of voter registration.
Electronic registration will ensure a higher degree of credibility of the voting process, according to the IEBC.
On Saturday, IEBC sources said the commission intends to register at least 18 million voters although they intend to order about 20 million to have a cushion in case of eventualities.
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Post by jakaswanga on Nov 11, 2012 10:45:02 GMT 3
Activist Okiya has never had any doubts about it, Omwenga. He long ago answered the question you pose here in the affirmative. Apparently he ruffled many figures on both sides of the divide. Now they are out to intimidate him,because in court, even masters of foot-dragging like the Judge Ibrahim, will not be able to cover up the mess which the evidence shall show, is this body IEBC. And a few months to elections what happens if the referees do not pass the vetting test? Here is the thread on the attack of Mr. Okiya! jukwaa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=7540
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Post by mwalimumkuu on Nov 11, 2012 18:06:45 GMT 3
Definitely a high price to pay but as the IEBC says they are now training the 29,000 clerks required to complete the registration exercise: www.iebc.or.ke/index.php/news-archive/278-november-2012/410-8000-voter-registration-kits-arriveSadly this is where we go wrong in planning. Rather than purchase a full electronic voting solution, we get one that only does registration/identification. When we inevitably go to the next level (smart cards) with our national ID's will we have to purchase yet more BVR type kits? When KRA goes hi-tech with PIN certificates will that require yet another costly solution? Same thing with driver's licenses. If there were a way the same equipment could be used for all those other ID requirements (or if the IEBC could share the data with the other bodies) it would be great. The one positive thing out of this IEBC saga is at least in theory, dead (wo)men won't vote this time around... Exactly how we solve our problems, creating endless avenues for our good leaders, both status quo and reformers to eat and oil their campaign machines.
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Post by phil on Nov 15, 2012 15:39:06 GMT 3
kamalet,I know you and your buddy mwalimumkuu are AWOL in this thread after you realised you were defending grand corruption. The BVR as bitter as it is to tax payers is now water under the bridge! That was a Kshs5billion bill for us that has gone to private pockets. But here, on the multi-billion shilling contract for printing of ballot papers, the thieves at IEBC are plotting another mega-scam through single sourcing. These shameless con-men are even going as far as writing justification to buy from their favourite vendor at the expense of tax payers. IEBC is rotten and this write-up is the result of a wicked conspiracy between the commissioners and some individuals in management. I can tell you for a fact, and in law, single sourcing can only be justified if the product required is only availabe from a single manufacturer. Security, time constraints and all that balderdash from IEBC cannot be justification to source a universal product singularly from one supplier. Smith and Ouzman needs not to employ sales and marketing personnel because they have very able sales people working for them at the IEBC. This is a good heads-up for Okiya Omtatah to act upon before it actually happens. But for you, here is the nonsense spin you need to defend @kamale and mwalimumkuu. Let's hear you! INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION
JUSTIFICATION FOR DIRECT PROCURMENT OF BALLOT PAPERS
Background
Kenya is getting ready to hold its fifth successive elections since the reintroduction of multi-party politics in 1991. The coming elections will be held under a different political, social economic and legal context. The elections will be held against the backdrop of the 2007 post-electoral violence and a new constitutional dispensation. The Constitution has radically changed the electoral process landscape which is a key departure from the previous elections. Articles 101(1),136(1) and180(1)of the Constitution stipulates that the expanded Elections be held in one day with citizens voting in six different elections; elections for President, County, Governor Senator, Member of the National assembly, County Woman Member of the National Assembly, and the County Assembly Member. In addition, the new Constitution has a provision for a presidential rerun if none of the candidates gets 51% of all votes cast and at least a majority in more than half of all the counties.
Further, under Article 86 of the Constitution the Commission is mandated to ensure that the voting method used is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable and transparent. It also prescribes the manner in which the votes are cast, counted, tallied and announced by the election officials and ensure that appropriate structures and mechanisms for eliminating electoral malpractices are put in place.
It follows therefore that the planning, management and execution challenges of procurement of the next General Election must aim to achieve efficiency, transparency and accountable.
Procurement Section 26 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act requires all public entities to establish procurement procedures. In addition section 26(4) requires public bodies to establish Tender Committees to undertake the decision touching on procurement. Further, section 27, requires that the Accounting Officer of public entities as such IEBC be responsible for ensuring that the proper procedures are followed.
Public procurement falls under three categories under the Act these are: 1. Open tendering, 2. Restricted tendering, and; 3. Direct procurement/single sourcing
Open Tendering. This is where tendering is open to any bidder. Part V of the Act provides the regulations to be adhered to when using the open tender process. These include regulations in respect of tender documents, advertisement, time for preparation of tenders, provision of tender documents and the provision of security where the procuring entity deems necessary, tender valuation period, evaluation of tenders and international tendering/bidding.
Advantage It is open tender allows all bidders to bid and so is seen as the most competitive.
a) Bids are publically scrutinized. b) This eliminates the possibility of price change upon opening of tender
Disadvantage a) It allows bids from unqualified bidders; b) Takes unnecessary time to evaluate and provide justification for non-compliance; c) May Presents opportunities for bidder objections thus delaying the award of a contract
RESTRICTED TENDERING
A procuring entity may engage in procurement by means of restricted tendering where the conditions under Section 73 of the Act are satisfied. Under Regulation 53, a procuring entity may use restricted tendering only if the conditions provided under Section 29 (3) and 73 (2) of the Act are satisfied. Section 73 stipulates that: “(2) A procuring entity may use restricted tendering if the following conditions are satisfied -
(a) competition for contract, because of the complex or specialized nature of the goods, works or services is limited to prequalified contractors: (b) the time and cost required to examine and evaluate a large number of tenders would be disproportionate to the value of the goods, works or services to be procured; and (c) there is only a few known suppliers of the goods, works or services as may be prescribed in the regulations.”
Advantages a) Restricted tendering "offers a kind of transparency that helps mitigate favoritism and corruption". b) The process reduces any kinds of delays that might be caused by unnecessary appeals to the Tribunal c) It will also ensure a faster delivery of ballot papers to the Commission since the entity that wins the tender shall have adequate time to prepare for the materials. The major disadvantage is; there must be sufficient time available to perform short-listing, prequalification and tendering.
Given that the supply of ballot papers must meet all security standards, the Commission may consider taking up direct procurement. This is particularly important for goods such as this that could affect election integrity. For example, that they are reliable. the ballot papers procured should cover security features as well as IEBC’s technical specifications to ensure The standards set out in previous elections must be maintained and should be a key factor in the decision to award a contract.
Justification for Direct procurement
A. Time Constraint
The choice of provider could not start earlier than September, 2012 because boundaries delimitation is not completed. Therefore exact number of polling stations is not known. On the other hand, open tendering is completely slow especially in terms of time taken to carry out evaluation of the bids. For instance, because of the tones of paper involved it would require a supplier to make a huge order of paper that normally takes 3 – 4 weeks. This is because no paper supplier has this amount of paper in stock ready.
If we calculate then it would translate this way:
a) Tender for ballot papers advertisement– 30 days. b) Evaluation (which will depend on the number of bidders) – 20 days. c) Letter of notification of award (this is provided pending any appeal) -14 days d) Contract signing – 3 days e) LPO – 1 week f) Supplier to get raw materials (specialized security paper tailor made with IEBC water mark) – 30 to 50 days on the minimum. g) Preparation and plate setting for printing security – 20 days h) Commence printing once candidate data is provided - (45 days before elections). i) It will take at least 9 or 10 chartered 747 Boeing planes for delivery. j) IEBC delivery timelines – at least 14 days before election.
This scenario is taken with the assumption that no supplier will appeal the technical and tender evaluation recommendations.
In view of this and against the limited time left, it would be a miracle for IEBC to finalize the tender in time for the contracted supplier to make preparations and delivery on time. It is also important to emphasize that ballot papers are the key elements to an election. Delaying their delivery is delaying Elections. A case in point is that of Nigerian Elections. Elections got delayed twice, because of supplier delay in delivering ballot papers on time. If the IEBC goes on open tender then the possibility of what happened in Nigeria is possible in Kenya.
B. Reliability
The constitutionS138 (9) provides for a re run to be conducted within 30 days after the General Elections. Within this period there is likelihood of a petition to be dispersed before the date for a re run is set. This uncertainty means the vendor must command the highest level of reliability and trust as well as have a proven track record.
There are many vendors who can meet this criterion in the market. Of these only Smith and Ouzman(S&O) has had a continuous service delivery with former ECK, IIEC and IEBC. Indeed when in 2010 IIEC had awarded a contract based on tender laws to a company (not Smith and Ouzman) it turned out that this firm could not deliver and IIEC had to contact S&O to fill the void at a short notice. Though there are many firms in the market with the ability to meet the above stated demand. It is noteworthy that only S&O has the proven experience of quality and dependency in Kenya’s Elections.
C. Security Features The 2013 elections came as a sequence to the 2007 Elections. Many Commissions including Justice Kriegler have predicted a high chance of recurrence of violence but on a vast scale than2007. One of the most complex activities which must be done well is ballot paper design, printing and delivery, of ballot papers; misprints, mislabeling, erraticpackaging with ballots from one region to elsewhere can be very expensive etc.
The consequences are not limited to in efficiency which can be corrected. There is a direct obvious and present security threat, which can be ameliorated by the choice of a familiar vendor with an obvious track record.
THE GHOSTS OF BVR
The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the tendering for the BVR is still fresh. There is no suggestion that this would be repeated. Indeed all valuable lessons learnt will be applied to eviscerate the very notion of recurrence.
However, tight timelines and security considerations means nothing should be left to chance including the mere possibility of delays called by vendor propensity to resort to PPOA adjudication.
CONCLUSION
The Commission and supplier typically spend a good deal of time discussing the project before the work begins. During such negotiations, the commission can elicit the supplier's views about where the designs and specifications can be improved. Potential problems and pitfalls with the proposed work can also be discussed.
Ballot papers being a special and sensitive item can be related to other specialized goods that the Government of Kenya procures with care and professionalism. For instance:
1. Tender for armory by Kenya police – In this case, the Kenya Police use direct tendering for supply of guns and ammunition used to fight crime. What if they used open tender and advertised to everyone the specification of the guns they intend to acquire, what would be its effect in effectively fighting crime?
2. Tender for armory by Kenya Defense – For this government entity direct tendering is used for supply of Guns, bombs and other artillery used to fight enemy invasion. The commission should take into consideration what would be the effect, if they did an open tender for these special materials?
Direct tendering would give the prospective supplier ample time to plan for printing, acquire raw material needed in time to start printing and supply the ballot papers at least 21 days before the elections.
This is a typical scenario:
a. September (10 days)– deliberation of tender Committee on direct procurement.
b. September (within 5 days) – approval by PPOA on the method considered by the tender committee.
c. October (within 1 week) – Contract negotiation with the prospective supplier.
d. October (within 1 week) – signing of contract and issuance of LPO.
e. End of October– nominations by political parties ends. IEBC spends 7 days to review and process the names, photos, names of voting areas etc. At a later date IEBC transmits data above to the printer.
f. End of December – supplier has raw materials (specialized security paper) at his disposal for preparation of the contract.
g. January – supplier liaises with the procuring entity on security features, logistics and data preparation (including presentation of data) for immediate supply to Kenya which will require several charter aircrafts.
h. January – Printing commences with a scheduled plan and IEBC member proofreading each and every category correctly matching the photos to the names and to the relevant election type.(this will definitely require a lot of investment in time) – proposed times for printing is 35 days maximum.
i. February - Delivery commences at least 21 days before the elections to the maximum otherwise some will definitely come early especially the ballot papers for far flung areas.
The above exercise will be a big task in itself, with over 2000 different types of ballot paper sorts to check and approve. In addition the potential total volume of the ballot papers for all 6 elections is in excess of 700 tones- where the final weight would entirely be dependent on the size of each ballot paper or the No. of candidates for a particular position
EXPERIENCE
S& O has extensive experience in elections printing solutions. They have printed ballot papers for Kenya continuously since 1997. Prior to this, O&S worked with election management bodies in Uganda, Namibia and Zambia. Since the 1980’s (see attached annex).
Decision required
It is possible for the ballot papers to be in excess of 700 tones depending on number of aspirants for the different elective positions. It would therefore work on the Commissions/plenary’s favor to note, resolve and endorse Direct procurement as a preferred method of purchasing ballot papers for the 2013 Elections from Smith & Ouzman.
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Post by phil on Dec 27, 2012 20:14:08 GMT 3
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Post by kamalet on Dec 28, 2012 8:01:15 GMT 3
Phil
As usual you are making an issue out of something that you do not have the clear facts about.
First the IEBC notifies its reasons for single sourcing which you post here in November. Then as you might be aware,nomination lists will be delayed by at least 15 days and this means that you cannot procure the ballot papers without knowing the exact numbers you are working with - in this case refer to the calendar proposed by the commission. The commission is up against more devious competition that includes parliament and this makes your opposition a little thing!
Secondly bad mouthing S&O on its financial position is ignorant. First making losses is not reflective of a company going under as it may have sufficient reserves to cover the losses hence it operates as a going concern. It is strange that your writer can allege that profits for 2011 are from a Uganda deal that was riddled with bribes - and yet they made profits! The key security feature of a ballot paper is the paper it will be printed from. There is no security required to print the ODM Orange or Raila's picture on the paper so as long as all printing is done on the same paper so outsourcing is really not a crime!
Every time I read such things from you, I know that you are batting for someone you might know!
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Post by furaha on Dec 28, 2012 13:41:42 GMT 3
Phil As usual you are making an issue out of something that you do not have the clear facts about. First the IEBC notifies its reasons for single sourcing which you post here in November. Then as you might be aware,nomination lists will be delayed by at least 15 days and this means that you cannot procure the ballot papers without knowing the exact numbers you are working with - in this case refer to the calendar proposed by the commission. The commission is up against more devious competition that includes parliament and this makes your opposition a little thing! Secondly bad mouthing S&O on its financial position is ignorant. First making losses is not reflective of a company going under as it may have sufficient reserves to cover the losses hence it operates as a going concern. It is strange that your writer can allege that profits for 2011 are from a Uganda deal that was riddled with bribes - and yet they made profits! The key security feature of a ballot paper is the paper it will be printed from. There is no security required to print the ODM Orange or Raila's picture on the paper so as long as all printing is done on the same paper so outsourcing is really not a crime! Every time I read such things from you, I know that you are batting for someone you might know! Come on now, Kamalet! First of all you are putting words into Phil's mouth that he never uttered. He provided the link to Deep Cogitation without commenting on the substance. Secondly, are you saying that after the debacle of 2007 it does not pay to be vigilant, or rather, very vigilant? I have read the story behind the link and am now posting it in full because I think it is important to be vigilant. I am not passing judgment at this point other than to say that I am alarmed by the potential for fraud. I think that at this point the vast majority of Kenyans are vigilant and appreciate hard questions and hard answers. Furaha Here we go, the full posting: Quote DeepCogitation has the fortitude of appealing to an increasing number of well wishers who are providing insight to a number of national issues. In this regard we have received the following anonymous tip from a concerned and patriotic citizen. The story following below outlines a possible explosive issue brewing over the printing of ballot papers. IEBC has only just recently squeezed through a near disaster with the fiasco of acquiring BVR kits. The acquisition of BVR kits was riddled with controversies from the tendering all the way through to award with many firms lodging protests as well as pointing accusing fingers at unclear and sometimes fraudulent practice. Finally with government intervention, the BVR kits were supplied and delivered albeit quite late, but also at nearly three times the initially quoted figures. The efficacy of these units is yet to be tested in the 1st general elections and we can only hope that the IEBC has a plan B in place should these units fail. But our attention is now drawn to a new story unraveling on the supply of ballot papers. The article below points to a flawed tender which has also been single sourced citing reasons such as time constraints. The problem however is that the company awarded this contract is said to be in financial trouble and struggling and it is feared that they will not be able to meet the tender on their own. As a result, they will be forced to sub contract to other companies. Due to their financial troubles, they cannot obtain relevant funding to print the ballots and are forced to sub contract to several companies. This introduces a huge security risk due to the numerous actors involved and could potentially compromise the elections as crooked people exploit the leaks. Read the story below and judge for yourself _______________________ A serious crisis relating to gross abuse of public office looms large in one corner of the seemingly bewitched Coalition Government. This time round it is about the printing of the 2013 election stationery. Apparently, a company whose books are in the red and which is completely incapable of executing an eighth of the work given the time remaining between now and the impending elections is at the center of this emerging controversy. It is not known who is behind Smith & Ouzman, the company that has won the tender, but he or she appears to be very, very powerful as the contract has been awarded with no regard for proper procurement procedure and with full knowledge that S&O are incapable of carrying out the work. It is being whispered that for questioning the single-sourced Smith & Ouzman, a well-known civil rights activist recently had some of his teeth forcibly removed by ‘unknown’ assailants. He had questioned the BVR kits issue and also that of the ballot papers. Since by the time he was assaulted, the BVR story was already a fait accompli, could the assault have been to shut him up about the even more crucial matter of ballot papers? The justification for IEBC to use the S&O for single-sourcing is so full of holes, that one could drive a large truck through some of them. This is especially so because S&O are a small company with financial problems. The good thing with the UK is the fact that all audited accounts are readily purchasable from credit reference bureaus off the internet (thus the financial information we have provided is easily verifiable – www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ ). The company has survived by subcontracting work to other struggling printers (who are desperate for any work) and acting as commission agents. The companies approached or subcontracted by Smith and Ouzman include T.A.L.L Security Printing and A1 Security Printing. Financial statements for the past few years are easily obtainable and are appended to this document. Some of these companies have no experience in printing ballot papers and ironically, they are also incapable of handling the volume of work and are thus in turn also looking for people to subcontract the work to! This is in spite of page 10 of the contract signed between S&O and IEBC specifically forbidding transfer or assignment. Page 12/13 also forbids giving of information regarding the specifications of the ballot papers to third parties. Most worrying about this about-to-happen disaster is the possibility of the printing of extra ballot papers for the 2013 elections which is the perfect recipe for a second and uglier round of post-election holocaust. This is because Smith & Ouzman is hawking the tender to various companies in the UK and Europe since it does not have capacity. It is well known in procurement rules (including those of PPOA) that security items cannot be subcontracted as there is then no way that the person who subcontracts the work (in this case Smith & Ouzman) can be held accountable for any misdeeds. Imagine a bank giving out a tender to print cheques then the person who wins the tender goes to look for people on river road to print them. Imagine then, that the river road printer is suffering from serious financial problems (as we will show, the two companies S&O are planning to contract have no previous experience in printing and packaging election ballots and also, are in dire financial straits). Any crook or fraudster can approach the printer and offer money for him to make some extra cheques to be used for fraud purposes! In the same way, anyone with some money can compromise the subcontracted ballot printer to print an extra run or two of ballot papers. They don’t even have to be stuffed in the ballot boxes on election day. Say we hear that ballots marked to favour Raila were found in a classroom in Nyanza? Or Kibera? Or others marked in favour of Uhuru were found in Thika. Or Dagoretti? It would call into question the whole election resulting in chaos. Smith & Ouzman: According to their website, Smith & Ouzman has a long and established reputation developed over 65 years of supplying election printing services such as ballot papers and poll cards for local government elections throughout the UK and worldwide. In reality, Smith & Ouzman is a relatively small and financially unstable company that lacks capacity to do serious security printing jobs. They specialize at offering big cuts to election officials in countries in Africa in exchange for ballot paper contracts. As they don’t have the printing capacity to complete these jobs, they outsource to other printers who are not proper security printers. All the years of accounts for Smith & Ouzman that are attached indicate losses other than the year ending 2011. The only reason Smith & Ouzman made a Profit & Increased their turnover in 2010-2011 was purely and simply the inflated contract from Uganda Electoral Commission to print Presidential Ballots – circa 20 million only. (Please refer to their audited accounts) Uganda Electoral Commission can confirm that even with such a small volume of ballot papers compared to the requirement in Kenya (Uganda 20 million – 1 type only vs. Kenya 120 million – split into many different types) Smith & Ouzman did not print the Uganda Ballot Papers themselves. They have misrepresented their capacity to do printing work to many countries election bodies including, more recently, the Electoral Commission of Uganda. When in 2011 the Uganda EC went to inspect the printing of ballot papers for their elections, they were shocked to be taken to the premises of another company, namely G.I. Solutions who specialise in printing direct marketing material! (http://www.gi-solutionsgroup.com) As the papers were already being printed (and S&O also offered to increase the agreed bribe to Uganda officials), no scandal ensued. The various accounts show S&O to be a financially weak company. This is certainly not the kind of company you give serious security work for two reasons:- 1. Their lack of financial capacity. Since they have been running losses for a number of years, it is possible that they could be put under receivership any time. If they had already been advanced money to print ballot papers, there is a very real possibility of loss of funds or delay of election papers. 2. Their casual handling of the security printing process. Right now, they have approached two UK companies, namely A1 and T.A.L.L. to print the ballots for them. These are two companies that are also in financial distress and are not mainstream security printers. (Please see attached financial summaries of the two companies that also clearly indicate financial distress.) As Smith cannot give them advance payment for the job, they have sought out larger printers to print the work for them on credit pending payment. As any serious security printing company would be unwilling to do this highly sensitive work as a subcontractor, these companies will definitely end up doing something foolish as they are also financially desperate and need the money. Too many subcontractors means that there is a higher probability of an enemy of Kenya getting hold of the specifications and printing their own ballots to ensure that the credibility of the election is destroyed. In the 2007 elections in Kenya, Smith & Ouzman had been given, among others, civic election ballot papers to print. They ran around looking for financing (which is exactly what they are doing right now)and when they were unable to find any company willing to print the papers for them on credit, they gave up and informed the then ECK about their problems. ECK forced them to hand over the contract to a company called Kalamazoo. We are reliably informed that although this story has been leaked to the mainstream media, there appears to be a reluctance by the main media to print or publish the article The reason for this suppression is unclear but clearly this is a monstrous problem with disastrous results if the ballot papers are tampered with The article in the Sunday Nation that first broke the story of the single-sourcing of ballot papers was so sanitised that it was obvious the writer or editor had deliberately toned it down as no serious questions about S&O were asked. It actually turned out to be a PR exercise to prepare the public for a good hoodwinking. www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/IEBC-could-face-new-storm/-/1064/1617144/-/wr35xgz/-/index.htmlAs time has run out for going through a proper procurement review, it appears that the tender shall go ahead. This is a serious failing on the part of our system. It is like saying you have hired a man to dig your shamba and though you have realized he does not have capacity to dig it alone, you don’t have time to hire other more competent people before the rains are here. An example of this flawed system is the tender for election kits awarded to Face Technologies of South Africa that was upheld on 9th December 2012 by PPOA but only due to time factor. It remains to be seen if Face Technologies, shall be able to supply the kits. (these kits are to be used for voter authentication on election day). If there are problems with voter authentication, then there shall automatically be allegations of rigging. www.standardmedia.co.ke/index.php?articleID=2000072547&story_title=Kenya-New-tender-row-hits-IEBC-over-supply-of-voter-roll-equipmentAlthough we do not rule out complicity, it appears that someone, or some people, are twisting the arm of the Chairman and also the CEO of IEBC to agree to this deal, possibly for money or more likely, to have a route to cause chaos if the election does not go their way. We must ask ourselves this question: why are so many serious matters taken so lightly in this country? How is due diligence on these companies done? Are the commissioners or whoever conducted due diligence on Smith & Ouzman properly trained to carry out this exercise? Shall they be held to account when problems occur, as the surely will? ______________________________________ To conclude this story, we see a potential huge risk in printing these ballot papers in a process that can be easily compromised. It is important for the government, citizens and all political parties to elevate vigilance and actively seek security and reinforcement that this process which marks a very crucial stage for the country is not given a false start The stakes for this election are even far higher than 2007 which caused many hundreds of deaths and displaced over half a million people. A compromised election will clearly spell doom for the country. We call on all the authorities to take a clear look a this issue and have it resolved quickly before it snowballs into a crisis. _______________________________________ Blog-Admin thanks the anonymous informant for contributing this story which is published in its entirety. Supporting documents will be uploaded by the end of the week. Unquote deepcogitation.com/2012/12/27/printing-ballot-papers-is-there-a-scam/
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Post by podp on Dec 28, 2012 16:32:46 GMT 3
Phil As usual you are making an issue out of something that you do not have the clear facts about. First the IEBC notifies its reasons for single sourcing which you post here in November. Then as you might be aware,nomination lists will be delayed by at least 15 days and this means that you cannot procure the ballot papers without knowing the exact numbers you are working with - in this case refer to the calendar proposed by the commission. The commission is up against more devious competition that includes parliament and this makes your opposition a little thing! Secondly bad mouthing S&O on its financial position is ignorant. First making losses is not reflective of a company going under as it may have sufficient reserves to cover the losses hence it operates as a going concern. It is strange that your writer can allege that profits for 2011 are from a Uganda deal that was riddled with bribes - and yet they made profits! The key security feature of a ballot paper is the paper it will be printed from. There is no security required to print the ODM Orange or Raila's picture on the paper so as long as all printing is done on the same paper so outsourcing is really not a crime! Every time I read such things from you, I know that you are batting for someone you might know! Come on now, Kamalet! First of all you are putting words into Phil's mouth that he never uttered. He provided the link to Deep Cogitation without commenting on the substance. Secondly, are you saying that after the debacle of 2007 it does not pay to be vigilant, or rather, very vigilant? I have read the story behind the link and am now posting it in full because I think it is important to be vigilant. I am not passing judgment at this point other than to say that I am alarmed by the potential for fraud. I think that at this point the vast majority of Kenyans are vigilant and appreciate hard questions and hard answers. Furaha Here we go, the full posting: Quote DeepCogitation has the fortitude of appealing to an increasing number of well wishers who are providing insight to a number of national issues. In this regard we have received the following anonymous tip from a concerned and patriotic citizen. The story following below outlines a possible explosive issue brewing over the printing of ballot papers. IEBC has only just recently squeezed through a near disaster with the fiasco of acquiring BVR kits. The acquisition of BVR kits was riddled with controversies from the tendering all the way through to award with many firms lodging protests as well as pointing accusing fingers at unclear and sometimes fraudulent practice. Finally with government intervention, the BVR kits were supplied and delivered albeit quite late, but also at nearly three times the initially quoted figures. The efficacy of these units is yet to be tested in the 1st general elections and we can only hope that the IEBC has a plan B in place should these units fail. But our attention is now drawn to a new story unraveling on the supply of ballot papers. The article below points to a flawed tender which has also been single sourced citing reasons such as time constraints. The problem however is that the company awarded this contract is said to be in financial trouble and struggling and it is feared that they will not be able to meet the tender on their own. As a result, they will be forced to sub contract to other companies. Due to their financial troubles, they cannot obtain relevant funding to print the ballots and are forced to sub contract to several companies. This introduces a huge security risk due to the numerous actors involved and could potentially compromise the elections as crooked people exploit the leaks. Read the story below and judge for yourself _______________________ A serious crisis relating to gross abuse of public office looms large in one corner of the seemingly bewitched Coalition Government. This time round it is about the printing of the 2013 election stationery. Apparently, a company whose books are in the red and which is completely incapable of executing an eighth of the work given the time remaining between now and the impending elections is at the center of this emerging controversy. It is not known who is behind Smith & Ouzman, the company that has won the tender, but he or she appears to be very, very powerful as the contract has been awarded with no regard for proper procurement procedure and with full knowledge that S&O are incapable of carrying out the work. It is being whispered that for questioning the single-sourced Smith & Ouzman, a well-known civil rights activist recently had some of his teeth forcibly removed by ‘unknown’ assailants. He had questioned the BVR kits issue and also that of the ballot papers. Since by the time he was assaulted, the BVR story was already a fait accompli, could the assault have been to shut him up about the even more crucial matter of ballot papers? The justification for IEBC to use the S&O for single-sourcing is so full of holes, that one could drive a large truck through some of them. This is especially so because S&O are a small company with financial problems. The good thing with the UK is the fact that all audited accounts are readily purchasable from credit reference bureaus off the internet (thus the financial information we have provided is easily verifiable – www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ ). The company has survived by subcontracting work to other struggling printers (who are desperate for any work) and acting as commission agents. The companies approached or subcontracted by Smith and Ouzman include T.A.L.L Security Printing and A1 Security Printing. Financial statements for the past few years are easily obtainable and are appended to this document. Some of these companies have no experience in printing ballot papers and ironically, they are also incapable of handling the volume of work and are thus in turn also looking for people to subcontract the work to! This is in spite of page 10 of the contract signed between S&O and IEBC specifically forbidding transfer or assignment. Page 12/13 also forbids giving of information regarding the specifications of the ballot papers to third parties. Most worrying about this about-to-happen disaster is the possibility of the printing of extra ballot papers for the 2013 elections which is the perfect recipe for a second and uglier round of post-election holocaust. This is because Smith & Ouzman is hawking the tender to various companies in the UK and Europe since it does not have capacity. It is well known in procurement rules (including those of PPOA) that security items cannot be subcontracted as there is then no way that the person who subcontracts the work (in this case Smith & Ouzman) can be held accountable for any misdeeds. Imagine a bank giving out a tender to print cheques then the person who wins the tender goes to look for people on river road to print them. Imagine then, that the river road printer is suffering from serious financial problems (as we will show, the two companies S&O are planning to contract have no previous experience in printing and packaging election ballots and also, are in dire financial straits). Any crook or fraudster can approach the printer and offer money for him to make some extra cheques to be used for fraud purposes! In the same way, anyone with some money can compromise the subcontracted ballot printer to print an extra run or two of ballot papers. They don’t even have to be stuffed in the ballot boxes on election day. Say we hear that ballots marked to favour Raila were found in a classroom in Nyanza? Or Kibera? Or others marked in favour of Uhuru were found in Thika. Or Dagoretti? It would call into question the whole election resulting in chaos. Smith & Ouzman: According to their website, Smith & Ouzman has a long and established reputation developed over 65 years of supplying election printing services such as ballot papers and poll cards for l now the technical evaluation team that sat at Supplies Branch opposite Motor Vehicle Inspection under the watchful eyes of the boys in blue for 5 days (17 to 21 December) did zero work if S&O ended up being single sourced that nite!
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Post by furaha on Jan 1, 2013 19:47:47 GMT 3
Hassan in today's Nation: “There’s so much to be done, too little time and very high expectation. We’re doing everything possible to ensure we have a credible election. But please understand that it will not be a perfect election. We ask for your understanding and appreciation.” www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Why-Hassan-faces-uphill-task-/-/1064/1655178/-/46obtf/-/index.htmlWhat is Hassan saying here? Should he not be more explicit and indicate what he is concerned about? Was this just a meaningless off the cuff remark? If that is the case he should be careful because such loose talk can be misinterpreted and undermine public confidence in the IEBC. Having prepared the electorate for a less than perfect process, he should now be more specific and indicate what his worries are and what can be done to rectify any issues that need close attention. It is not too late...
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Post by Omwenga on Jan 1, 2013 22:05:05 GMT 3
Hassan in today's Nation: If that is the case he should be careful because such loose talk can be misinterpreted and undermine public confidence in the IEBC." Furaha,You are very right about this assertion by Hassan. He obviously knows more than he is leading on but it's best to keep mum under those circumstances, while doing something about it or go public full blown with the details so that others may come to the aid in doing or forcing the doing of the right thing. I blogged sometime ago someone in the know told me Hassan corrected course at some point after the initial posting of this thread and has been trying to do the right thing I want to continue giving him the benefit of doubt but we must obviously not let down the guard.
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Post by podp on Jan 3, 2013 9:58:39 GMT 3
Phil As usual you are making an issue out of something that you do not have the clear facts about. First the IEBC notifies its reasons for single sourcing which you post here in November. Then as you might be aware,nomination lists will be delayed by at least 15 days and this means that you cannot procure the ballot papers without knowing the exact numbers you are working with - in this case refer to the calendar proposed by the commission. The commission is up against more devious competition that includes parliament and this makes your opposition a little thing! Secondly bad mouthing S&O on its financial position is ignorant. First making losses is not reflective of a company going under as it may have sufficient reserves to cover the losses hence it operates as a going concern. It is strange that your writer can allege that profits for 2011 are from a Uganda deal that was riddled with bribes - and yet they made profits! The key security feature of a ballot paper is the paper it will be printed from. There is no security required to print the ODM Orange or Raila's picture on the paper so as long as all printing is done on the same paper so outsourcing is really not a crime! Every time I read such things from you, I know that you are batting for someone you might know! Come on now, Kamalet! First of all you are putting words into Phil's mouth that he never uttered. He provided the link to Deep Cogitation without commenting on the substance. Secondly, are you saying that after the debacle of 2007 it does not pay to be vigilant, or rather, very vigilant? I have read the story behind the link and am now posting it in full because I think it is important to be vigilant. I am not passing judgment at this point other than to say that I am alarmed by the potential for fraud. I think that at this point the vast majority of Kenyans are vigilant and appreciate hard questions and hard answers. Furaha Here we go, the full posting: Quote DeepCogitation has the fortitude of appealing to an increasing number of well wishers who are providing insight to a number of national issues. In this regard we have received the following anonymous tip from a concerned and patriotic citizen. The story following below outlines a possible explosive issue brewing over the printing of ballot papers. IEBC has only just recently squeezed through a near disaster with the fiasco of acquiring BVR kits. The acquisition of BVR kits was riddled with controversies from the tendering all the way through to award with many firms lodging protests as well as pointing accusing fingers at unclear and sometimes fraudulent practice. Finally with government intervention, the BVR kits were supplied and delivered albeit quite late, but also at nearly three times the initially quoted figures. The efficacy of these units is yet to be tested in the 1st general elections and we can only hope that the IEBC has a plan B in place should these units fail. But our attention is now drawn to a new story unraveling on the supply of ballot papers. The article below points to a flawed tender which has also been single sourced citing reasons such as time constraints. The problem however is that the company awarded this contract is said to be in financial trouble and struggling and it is feared that they will not be able to meet the tender on their own. As a result, they will be forced to sub contract to other companies. Due to their financial troubles, they cannot obtain relevant funding to print the ballots and are forced to sub contract to several companies. This introduces a huge security risk due to the numerous actors involved and could potentially compromise the elections as crooked people exploit the leaks. Read the story below and judge for yourself _______________________ A serious crisis relating to gross abuse of public office looms large in one corner of the seemingly bewitched Coalition Government. This time round it is about the printing of the 2013 election stationery. Apparently, a company whose books are in the red and which is completely incapable of executing an eighth of the work given the time remaining between now and the impending elections is at the center of this emerging controversy. It is not known who is behind Smith & Ouzman, the company that has won the tender, but he or she appears to be very, very powerful as the contract has been awarded with no regard for proper procurement procedure and with full knowledge that S&O are incapable of carrying out the work. It is being whispered that for questioning the single-sourced Smith & Ouzman, a well-known civil rights activist recently had some of his teeth forcibly removed by ‘unknown’ assailants. He had questioned the BVR kits issue and also that of the ballot papers. Since by the time he was assaulted, the BVR story was already a fait accompli, could the assault have been to shut him up about the even more crucial matter of ballot papers? The justification for IEBC to use the S&O for single-sourcing is so full of holes, that one could drive a large truck through some of them. This is especially so because S&O are a small company with financial problems. The good thing with the UK is the fact that all audited accounts are readily purchasable from credit reference bureaus off the internet (thus the financial information we have provided is easily verifiable – www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ ). The company has survived by subcontracting work to other struggling printers (who are desperate for any work) and acting as commission agents. The companies approached or subcontracted by Smith and Ouzman include T.A.L.L Security Printing and A1 Security Printing. Financial statements for the past few years are easily obtainable and are appended to this document. Some of these companies have no experience in printing ballot papers and ironically, they are also incapable of handling the volume of work and are thus in turn also looking for people to subcontract the work to! This is in spite of page 10 of the contract signed between S&O and IEBC specifically forbidding transfer or assignment. Page 12/13 also forbids giving of information regarding the specifications of the ballot papers to third parties. Most worrying about this about-to-happen disaster is the possibility of the printing of extra ballot papers for the 2013 elections which is the perfect recipe for a second and uglier round of post-election holocaust. This is because Smith & Ouzman is hawking the tender to various companies in the UK and Europe since it does not have capacity. It is well known in procurement rules (including those of PPOA) that security items cannot be subcontracted as there is then no way that the person who subcontracts the work (in this case Smith & Ouzman) can be held accountable for any misdeeds. Imagine a bank giving out a tender to print cheques then the person who wins the tender goes to look for people on river road to print them. Imagine then, that the river road printer is suffering from serious financial problems (as we will show, the two companies S&O are planning to contract have no previous experience in printing and packaging election ballots and also, are in dire financial straits). Any crook or fraudster can approach the printer and offer money for him to make some extra cheques to be used for fraud purposes! In the same way, anyone with some money can compromise the subcontracted ballot printer to print an extra run or two of ballot papers. They don’t even have to be stuffed in the ballot boxes on election day. Say we hear that ballots marked to favour Raila were found in a classroom in Nyanza? Or Kibera? Or others marked in favour of Uhuru were found in Thika. Or Dagoretti? It would call into question the whole election resulting in chaos. Smith & Ouzman: According to their website, Smith & Ouzman has a long and established reputation developed over 65 years of supplying election printing services such as ballot papers and poll cards for l now the technical evaluation team that sat at Supplies Branch opposite Motor Vehicle Inspection under the watchful eyes of the boys in blue for 5 days (17 to 21 December) did zero work if S&O ended up being single sourced that nite! IN SUMMARY Security printer Aero Vote Ltd says the procurement of the materials was done contrary to procurement rules. The winning firm has been involved in Kenya’s electoral process including by-elections and referendum over the years. However, the petitioner says the company which recently printed ballots for the Ugandan elections does not print the ballots and instead outsources to various printers. www.businessdailyafrica.com/UK-firm-cries-foul-over-sourcing-of-ballot-papers-printer/-/539546/1656220/-/jl4i9q/-/index.html
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Post by kamalet on Jan 4, 2013 16:02:08 GMT 3
[quote author=podp board=general thread=6770 post=113413 time=1357196319 IN SUMMARY Security printer Aero Vote Ltd says the procurement of the materials was done contrary to procurement rules. The winning firm has been involved in Kenya’s electoral process including by-elections and referendum over the years. However, the petitioner says the company which recently printed ballots for the Ugandan elections does not print the ballots and instead outsources to various printers. www.businessdailyafrica.com/UK-firm-cries-foul-over-sourcing-of-ballot-papers-printer/-/539546/1656220/-/jl4i9q/-/index.html[/quote]So someone is running the errands for Aero Vote in this post? When someone quotes P&L losses as the basis of a company's strength, then you know they are pulling wool over people's eyes. When you hear of someone complain about outsourcing, then they have little knowledge of how certain industries work! Fears of rigging are driven by fears of losing with rigging being a viable excuse...something we heard a lot in 2007
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Post by Omwenga on Jan 9, 2013 23:06:27 GMT 3
Hassan in today's Nation: If that is the case he should be careful because such loose talk can be misinterpreted and undermine public confidence in the IEBC." Furaha,You are very right about this assertion by Hassan. He obviously knows more than he is leading on but it's best to keep mum under those circumstances, while doing something about it or go public full blown with the details so that others may come to the aid in doing or forcing the doing of the right thing. I blogged sometime ago someone in the know told me Hassan corrected course at some point after the initial posting of this thread and has been trying to do the right thing I want to continue giving him the benefit of doubt but we must obviously not let down the guard. Meanwhile, Questions raised as police impound IEBC election materialwww.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000074702&pageNo=1&story_title=Kenya-Questions-raised-as-police-impound-IEBC-election-materialNairobi, Kenya: Security concerns are being raised on election materials after Administration Police officers in Nairobi on Tuesday evening impounded thousands of bags belonging to the Independent Elections and Boundary Commission (IEBC) that were being rebranded from a private house. The bags were part of a Sh80 million tender awarded to a private firm by the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for supply and delivery of election materials. The director of the firm was unable to explain to security agents why he was transferring material from a government warehouse to a private residence, with inadequate security, to rebrand them with just 54 days to the General Election. The bags in question are issued to clerks recruited by the electoral body to carry election materials. The APs from Utawala police post were holding the suspect cache of more than 200,000 bags that were being offloaded from a lorry to a private residence under construction in the area. The police officers from the nearby Utawala police post said they had noticed suspicious movements when the lorry had delivered the first batch and returned with another batch. On inquiring what the lorry was carrying, it turned out to be the bags with the logo of IIEC, the predecessor of IEBC. A Mr Omondi who arrived at the scene moments after the bags were impounded explained to the police that IEBC had awarded him a tender to re-brand 279,100 bags at a cost of Sh13.9 million. He gave the police the documents to show he had won the tender and an LPO to supply them but could not provide documents authorising the movement and re-branding of the bags. According to the documents given to the police, Omondi’s company, Hopeland Advertising and Design Limited, was given the tender to supply various materials to IEBC; which include 36,000 polling station banners, 580 constituency Tallying Centre banners, 94 county tallying centre banners, two national tallying centre banners and the rebranding of the IEBC bags. The cost of the entire tender is quoted as Sh79,971,800. However, police were not convinced with the documents and asked him to provide other letters allowing him to rebrand the bags since the tender letter and the LPO provided were not enough to prove legitimate ownership of the bags. By Wednesday, the cops were still holding the vehicle at the scene and were yet to ascertain if the documents provided by the owner of the house were genuine. According to Austin Otieno of Hopeland Limited, there was nothing sinister in the bags being transferred from Government warehouse in Industrial Area to the private residence. “You can verify from the documents that were procedural in transferring those bags from the Government ware house to the area. We opted to use that property which is owned by Omondi since there is space,” Otieno who identified himself as an administrator of Hopeland told The Standard on phone. In the backdrop of this latest development, IEBC chair Isaack Hassan had Wednesday assured President Kibaki that the everything was set for the March 4 polls. The Head of State also assured that security would be given priority and the Government would mobilise officers from all State security agencies to ensure a secure and peaceful election. In this regard, a meeting will be held between the IEBC, the National Police Service and Provincial Administration to discuss security development during the polls.
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