IEBC Considers Auctioneers to Recover Sh400m from Failed Election Petitions

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has turned to auctioneers to sell the properties of politicians who lost election-related petitions to recover over Sh400 million awarded by courts.

The electoral agency was awarded a total of Sh403 million in costs arising from unsuccessful petitions filed challenging the outcomes of elections in 2013 and 2017, documents tabled before the Public Accounts Committee reveal.

Some 139 politicians who vied for governor, senator or MP owe the IEBC millions of shillings.

The money includes Sh99 million awarded to the agency by the High Court following petitions filed after the 2013 election; another awarded by lower courts Sh32 million related to the 2017 poll; and Sh4.3 million from lower courts for 2013.

Long process

But a decade later, the agency has not recovered the money, in what CEO Marjan Hussein blames on the long process of executing the court orders.

The money, flagged by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, is to be recovered from Sh1 million in security deposits paid in court by petitioners challenging election results declared by the IEBC for electoral positions.

The agency turned to auctioneers following a go-ahead from the Office of the Attorney General, Marjan said.

“The Attorney General has since allowed us to recover the money from the cash deposited as security by the petitioners,” said Marjan.

The auctioneers, Marjan said, will be paid a percentage of the amount of money they collect, “which is about 1.5 percent”.

“We have employed a lot of effort in recovering the amounts, but it is not yielding the desired results. That is why we went the route of auctioneers on the advice of the Attorney-General,” Marjan said.

This is exemplified by the fact that of the over Sh400 million owed to the commission, the lawyers have managed to collect only Sh6.8 million from the election petition losers.

Topping the list of the politicians who owe the commission is former provincial commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan who owes the commission Sh5 million over a petition challenging former Mandera governor and now Senator Ali Roba.

Others are former MP Walter Nyambati (Sh5 million) and former Embu gubernatorial aspirant Leny Kivuti, who owes Sh4.5 million after unsuccessfully challenging the election of Martin Wambora.

Others are Farah Maalim (Sh3 million) who had contested the victory of the current Environment Cabinet Secretary Adan Duale in a race for the Garissa Township seat.

Also on the list is Migori Governor Ochillo Ayacko, who was slapped with Sh3.7 million in costs after losing to former governor Okoth Obado.

Others are Josephat Nanok, Elizabeth Ongoro (Sh1.5 million), the late Jakoyo Midiwo (Sh1.5 million) and the former Likoni MP, the late Masudi Mwahima, (Sh1 million) and others.

Lawyers seeking to recover the money for the IEBC encountered several difficulties, including inability to access security deposit in election petitions.

“We are currently in the process of procuring auctioneers to recover the monies owed to the commission as awarded by the court in election petition cases that were ruled in our favour,” Marjan told the committee, chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale.

Surrogate litigants

The other challenges encountered by lawyers are delays in executing court orders and stays in executing the orders on appeal by the petitioners.

There is also the case of surrogate litigants who file petitions on behalf of politicians to cushion them against such costs.

But there are some politicians who have settled their debts, amounting to Sh6.8 million.

They include former Kilome MP John Harun Mwau (Sh2.23 million), former Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara (Sh333,333), Arthur Kibira (Sh300,000) and politician Mugambi Imanyara (Sh250,000).
Others are former Cabinet Secretary John Munyes (Sh250,000), Grace Akumu (Sh250,000), Pauline Lokuruka (Sh250,000 each for the two cases she unsuccessfully filed against the IEBC), Hamzah Kevogo (Sh250,000), Robinson Simiyu (Sh250,000) and Charles Kamuren (Sh250,000).
Another challenges for the IEBC is the inability to track down some petitioners, while others have no attachable moveable assets.