Aston Lukoye
IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati. Photo Courtesy: Instagram
- The sum is to be paid within 14 days
- Scanad is an advertising agency
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been ordered by the court to pay Scanad Kenya Limited over Ksh.248 million for services provided in 2007.
Justice John Chigiti issued the order on June 27, 2023, after the commission failed to comply with a previous court ornder to pay the advertising agency.
The decretal sum of Ksh.248,042,665.12 is the amount that Scanad was awarded by the court in April 2021 for services provided to the IEBC during the 2007 general election.
The commission had argued that it could not pay the sum because it had not been allocated the funds by the National Treasury. However, the court ruled that the commission had not appealed against the court order or attempted to challenge it in any way.
The court also noted that the commission had been served with the order to pay Scanad on October 6, 2022, and had made no attempt to do so.
As a result, Justice Chigiti ordered the IEBC to pay Scanad the decretal sum within 14 days, failing which its CEO, Marjan Hussein, will be cited for contempt of court.
Scanad Kenya Limited is an advertising agency that has been providing services to the IEBC since 2007. The company has been involved in a number of high-profile projects for the commission, including the design and printing of ballot papers and the production of voter education materials.
The 2007 general election was a highly contested event, and the IEBC was accused of mismanaging the process. Scanad Kenya Limited was one of the companies that was awarded a contract to provide services for the election.
However, the company later filed a lawsuit against the IEBC, alleging that it had not been paid in full for its services.
The court case dragged on for several years, and in April 2021, Lady Justice Grace Ngenye ruled in favor of Scanad Kenya Limited. The judge ordered the IEBC to pay the company Ksh.245,002,620.12.
The IEBC appealed against the court order, but the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in February 2023.
