President William Ruto addressing delegates during the UDA National Governing Council meeting at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi on September 29, 2023.
President William Ruto has reportedly scuttled a plan to procure 10,000 voting tablets at an inflated price of Sh200 million, Nation.Africa has learnt.
Some top party officials are said to have agreed on a local supplier who quoted $150 (Sh20,250) per unit.
The estimated cost was Sh25,000 including VAT based on the exchange rate at the time.
An angry President Ruto is said to have ordered the cancellation of the deal and instructed officials to find another supplier.
Nation.Africa has established that the Sh200 million boardroom tussle that led to the delay in procuring the election materials was one of the reasons that forced the party to postpone the ambitious grassroots election from the original date of December 9, 2023.
On Thursday, UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala admitted that the initial supplier had quoted Sh25,000 per unit. Mr Malala said President Ruto later sourced the tablets from China at $75 (Sh10,125), half of the initial quotation.
“In Kenya, the tablets cost Sh25,000 per piece. When we scouted for the tablets, we thought we could get them locally, but suppliers made a quotation of about Sh22,000. It was coming to Sh25,000 when you include VAT. It was too expensive,” Mr Malala said.
“The boss (President) procured directly from a manufacturer in China. It was procured at $75 (Sh10,125),” he said.
An official in the party, however, told Nation.Africa that it is the party’s National Elections Board (NEB) chairman, Antony Mwaura, who sourced the new supplier following instructions by the President.
The source said that the President told Mr Mwaura to take charge of the exercise following the boardroom standoff over the procurement of the tablets.
The ruling party has procured 10,000 tablets to facilitate electronic voting, designed to deliver a credible exercise to avert possible fallout associated with contested party elections. Some 5,000 tablets were delivered on Sunday, while the remaining 5,000 will arrive next week. It means the party has saved a total of Sh100 million.
Mr Mwaura was appointed on April 2 to steer the exercise staggered in four phases, starting on Friday to August 24.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Board
Mwaura – who also chairs the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Board – was appointed to head the election team following complaints that Mr Malala was overstepping his mandate and trying to usurp powers of the elections board.
In an interview on Thursday, Malala defended himself, saying the election board does not operate in a vacuum but reports to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC), where he sits.
Some party members argue that he should not be involved in the elections because he would be a candidate in the national polls.
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“As the Secretary General of the party, I am the official spokesperson. I communicate all resolutions of the party. I don’t understand why someone would want to complain against me when I have not even declared my candidature,” said Mr Malala.
“Why do they assume that I want to run? The national elections are still far away. If a competitor thinks that I would take advantage then they are engaging in unnecessary fights because I have not even declared my candidature,” he said.
Elections were postponed
Before the December elections were postponed, a petition seeking to restrain Mr Malala from discharging the mandate of his office had been filed at the party’s Dispute Resolution Committee by Senate Majority Leader Boni Khalwale and another petitioner over alleged plans to manipulate the exercise.
“The petitioners are apprehensive that the respondent will continue taking advantage of his position to exploit the situation that would be beneficial to him at the detriment of the petitioners and other party members,” states the petition,” said Dr Khalwale and Mr Walter Trenk in the petition.
Mr Mwaura on Tuesday said the party elections will be run by the elections board and not any other party official.
“I would like to tell our members that this election is being conducted by the National Elections Board only. Everybody involved in the elections is taking instructions from none other than the members of NEB. Nobody will corrupt members of the board,” said Mwaura.
“The Secretary-General does not play any part when it comes to our elections. Once we finish the elections, we are mandated to prepare a report to NEC. In between there is nowhere the SG is involved.”
The ruling party will kick off its first phase of the exercise covering five counties - Nairobi, Narok, West-Pokot, Busia and Homa Bay.
Deliver election materials
The party is making final touches to deliver election materials in a total of 2,337 polling centres by Thursday evening, including 372 polling centres in Nairobi, Narok (589), Busia (462), West Pokot (512) and Homa Bay (402).
Official data by the party shows that 189,638 UDA registered members have applied to contest for the 20 positions declared vacant at the 27,397 polling centres spread across the country.
At the polling centre level, party members will elect 20 officials. They include three representatives of religious groups, traders (fours), professionals (three), youth (four), Special Interest Groups (One), farmers (three) and two party members – a woman and a man.
The party has declared 18 positions vacant at the ward, constituency and county levels.
The 20 polling centre officials elected by the party members and elected and nominated MCAs will form the Ward Congress. The Congress will proceed to elect 20 ward officials from amongst themselves.
Further, the 20 ward officials from each ward in a constituency, plus elected and nominated MPs will form the Constituency Congress. The Constituency Congress will elect 20 officials from amongst themselves.
The 20 elected constituency officials plus governors, deputy governors, senators and woman representatives will form the County Congress. The team will elect 20 county officials from amongst themselves.
All county officials (20) and seven officials (7) at the constituency – which include the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Treasurer, Organizing Secretary and a Youth Rep – and all the elected and nominated leaders will constitute the National Delegate Congress which will elect the National officials.
