Ballot papers bid invite sets timer to 2022 elections

Preparations for next year’s General- Election gained momentum yesterday when the electoral agency invited bids for supply of ballot papers and other polling material.

Besides ballot papers, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) placed an advertisement in local dailies inviting bids for supply of materials such as voter register and result declaration forms to be used for a three-year period including the 2022 General Election.

“The tender is meant to source a printer who will work with the commission in the next three years.

The successful bidder will be required to service the commission’s General Election ballot paper printing request and or referendum, should there be one, in the next three years,” IEBC acting chief executive Hussein Marijan told People Daily yesterday.

He added: The commission has been allocated General Elections budget in the Financial Year 2021/2022 and it is only prudent that it starts preparations early.”

Fast-track budget

Separately, the National Treasury also moved to fast-track preparations for the budget for the next financial year to ensure it is passed before the current Parliament is dissolved to pave way for elections.

“Cognisant that the year 2022 is an election year, there is need to fast-track the national Fiscal Budget process to ensure smooth government operations.

It is, therefore, imperative that the process of preparing the Finance Bill, 2022, begins early enough to ensure the Finance Act, 2022, is enacted before Parliament breaks in preparation for General Elections,” read a notice signed by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani.

“In this regard, the preparation of the Finance Bill, 2022, will commence in August 2021. Completion and submission of the Bill to the National Assembly will be by January 2022,” the CS advised.

In the IEBC advertisement dated July 14, the poll agency invites interested firms to bid for the tender for the supply of the various election material.

Interested bidders have until August 13, to tender their applications.

The material to be supplied will be used at polling stations, constituency, county and national tallying centre for the General Election and any referendum falling within the three-year contract period.

2022 timelines

 “All tenders must be accompanied by a Tender Security of Sh20 million valid for 210 days from date of opening of the tender. Tender security should be in the form of a bank guarantee,” the advert reads.

The advertisement is the latest in a series of activities the electoral body has embarked on in readiness for the next general elections.

The commission is currently vetting shortlisted candidates to fill vacant positions of commissioners.

It has also issued notice to all public servants seeking to contest in the election to resign by February 9, next year, in conformity with the Elections Act.

The commission has further warned any aspiring candidate for any elective or nominated position in the general election to ensure they are in possession of a degree certificate from a recognised university, a requirement that has met stiff resistance from various quarters.

Last month, IEBC issued various timelines for the 2022 General Election. For instance, December 9, will mark the end of fundraising by political aspirants, eight months before the polls.

Parties will conduct primaries from April 16 to April 22 while the names of candidates who will participate in the primaries will be submitted to the commission by April 9.

The commission will then gazette the names by April 16 with other nominations for Senate set for May 30 to June 2, National Assembly (May 30 to June 1), County Woman Representative (June 3 to June 6), gubernatorial (June 1 to June 10) and county assembly (June 2 to June 10).

The search for the firm to supply election materials started soon after the last general election but has been largely derailed by internal wars arising from vested interests and rivalry among big players in the industry.

Single-source

In 2017, IEBC picked Dubai-based Al Ghurair Printing for the lucrative deal, a move that saw several cases filed in court almost threatening to derail the then presidential election.

Last month, activist Okiya Omtatah claimed the electoral agency was planning to single-source the ballot papers after the commission declined to disclose contents of a procurement deal with a local firm.

He moved to court under a certificate of urgency seeking to stop IEBC from extending a framework contract it had entered two years ago with De La Rue Kenya until the case is heard and determined.

The activist had written to the commission in February but did not get a reply.

In March, he wrote to the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) seeking its intervention but that also has not borne fruits.

He wants the court to compel the Wafula Chebukati-led IEBC to disclose minutes of a commission meeting that resolved to abandon a restricted tendering in 2019 in favour of direct procurement.

IEBC single-sourced a contract to print ballot papers for by-elections in September 2019, it had also included a provision for the referendum materials, perhaps in anticipation that the plebiscite on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) document would be held this year.

In the deal between IEBC and De La Rue Kenya the agency included the printing of 20 million ballot papers at Sh397.4 million.

The award was on “as and when required” basis for a period from October 2019 to the end of 2021, suggesting that IEBC had factored a possible referendum by end of this year.

And in a separate contract for the supply and delivery of forms 35A on an A3 paper, the commission seeks to acquire at least 41,000 result declaration forms at Sh383 per page.

According to Chebukati, four firms; Ellams Products Ltd, Sintel Security Solutions Ltd, Hills Converters (K) Ltd and Kenya Literature Bureau, had applied for the tender.

Of the four, only Ellams was found to be responsive in the preliminaries but was knocked out for allegedly failing to pass the technical evaluation stage.