Kenyan MPs Vote For 10 Year Ban For IDEMIA Securities

MPs in Kenya’s National Assembly have voted in favour of a ten-year ban on French firm IDEMIA Securities conducting business in the country. 

The tech firm is facing the ban on the basis that it violated the Companies Act. A report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found the firm to have operated illegally on the basis that it was not registered at the time it began business with the government. The firm was previously known as Safran Morpho and OT-Morpho and has supplied Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits during the 2013 and 2017 elections. IDEMIA also provides technology services for the recently launched National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), also known as Huduma Namba. 

While the PAC sanctioned the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) concerning the contracts, no action against IDEMIA was proposed, prompting MPs to propose amendments including a temporary ban.

Addressing the National Asssembly Majority Leader Aden Duale on Wednesday stated, “We must deal with it if we want to have free and fair elections in 2022. Companies that do business in Kenya must be ready to follow our laws, otherwise they will get into corruption and unethical behaviour, and they don’t employ our people. They must do business ethically, the same way they do in France.”