IEBC owes law firms Sh4bn in legal fees, MPs told
IEBC Chief Executive Marjan Hussein Marjan when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to respond to audit queries at Parliament buildings on February 16, 2023.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) owes lawyers Sh3.8 billion in pending bills according to the details presented to parliament.
The details of the lawyers pending bills, dating back to 2013, are contained in a document IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marajan Hussein Marjan presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly that is considering the audited accounts of the commission for the 2020/21 financial year.
Mr Marjan told the committee the amount owed to lawyers constitutes 85 per cent of the entire Sh4.4 billion pending bills owed to various suppliers as at March 10, 2023. The non-legal pending bills constitute Sh608 million.
Of the billions, Sh567.3 million is owed to 28 law firms that represented the commission in the petition arising from the August 9, 2022 presidential election.
This also includes Sh1.76 billion due to lawyers who represented the commission in various cases, Sh264.7 million arising from Public Procurement and Review Board (PPARB) matters in 2022 and Sh446.2 million in election petitions arising from the August 9, 2022 General Election.
Legal services
The commission also incurred Sh89.2 million on judgments and costs awarded against it Sh84.9 million on additional legal fees and Sh52 million for administration of oaths and affirmations on returning officers, presiding officers and clerks.
The law firms are part of the 148 on the shortlist of the commission to offer legal services. Nominated MP John Mbadi, who chairs PAC, said the legal fees that IEBC owes lawyers is huge even as he wondered how the 148 law firms were selected from the 148 pre-qualified law firms.
“The government spends so much on legal fees at the IEBC, and the fees don’t seem to end. If you have a list of 148 law firms that are pre-qualified, how did you give them the jobs,” wondered Mr Mbadi. But Mr Marjan told the committee that the budgetary allocations during the election year was limited and mainly consisted of operations and maintenance expenditure.
“This means that pending bills cannot be absorbed at the first charge,” said Mr Marjan even as he admitted that the expenditures have been largely outside the commission’s budget after Mr Mbadi sought to know why IEBC spent the money without the approval of parliament. IEBC Director of Legal Services Chrispin Owiye said his team recommends to the CEO three law firms from which he is required to pick one.
“When choosing the law firms we look at the specialty of the firm, gravity of the matter and the geographical location,” said Mr Owiye even as Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo wondered why a law firm that has delivered services to IEBC would wait for five years without being paid and remain contented.
IEBC also incurred Sh264.7 million arising from PPARB matters, which involved Smartmatic International Holdings, Risk Africa Innovitis limited, Scanad Kenya, Shailesh Patel T/A Africa Infrastructure Development, Unprint A Division of Insidedata and Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC against IEBC.
The Sh446.2 million spent on petitions arising from last year’s election involved 12 challenging the election of governors, two against senators, four against woman representatives, 28 against members of the National Assembly and 79 against ward representatives.
The 12 governorship petitions cost IEBC Sh55.7 million, senatorial petitions Sh9.3 million, woman representative petitions Sh18.6 million, members of he National Assembly Sh97.44 million and ward representatives Sh137.5 million.
The commission also incurred Sh127.74 million relating to 85 party list petitions in the lower courts. Pre-election petitions ahead of the polls cost IEBC Sh479.24 million.
There is also Sh40.5 million incurred on High Court appeals and Court of Appeal appeals arising from High Court petitions on party primaries.
Dispute resolution complaints handled by law firms representing former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati saw Mukele Moni and Company Advocates contracted at Sh1.74 million.
