The elections body remained mum for the second day running following a lengthy statement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) accusing its chairman of lying about the role of three Venezuelans arrested with election materials in their luggage at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
DCI boss George Kinoti accused Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati of lying about the designations of the Venezuelan nationals in Smartmatic, the technology company contracted to run the August 9 General Election and the contents of electronic equipment confiscated by the police.
Mr Chebukati had said that contrary to a press statement by the police, officers had refused to release the Venezuelans and had not released mobile phones, laptops, flash discs “which electronic material contain important and sensitive information relating to the forthcoming elections as well as projects undertaken by them in other countries.”
By the time of going to press, questions sent by the Nation to Mr Chebukati, IEBC chief executive Marjan Hussein Marjan and the communications team had not been answered.
We had sought to get the commission’s response to the DCI’s 11-page statement, whether or not the Venezuelans had been released, and the fate of the elections technology given Mr Chebukati’s claims of tampering due to passwords being sought and the electronic equipment confiscated.
We also asked the commission about the significance of the elections kits identification stickers, their delivery schedule, and whether and how the confiscation of the elections materials would affect elections preparedness, with just 13 days to the polls.
We also sought to know the IEBC’s relations with Mr Abdullahi Abdi Mohamed, the chief executive officer of Nairobi-based technology start-up Seamless Technologies, and whether the said company had a sub-contract with IEBC or Smartmatic.
The small firm, which was established in 2010 according to its website, lists itself as providing IT solutions to small and medium enterprises from its location at the House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT) along Dennis Pritt Road in the city.
House of Innovation and Technology, says it “creates a suitable platform for Kenyan innovative idea owners, programmers, knowledge-based companies, start-ups and creative industries to benefit from the technologies acquired from Iranian companies over the years.”
It is also not clear how IEBC, even when proven to have allowed Smartmatic to have a local company connection, chose a start-up with no proven track record in provision of elections technology as the link to the polls technology firm.
It was also unclear why the elections kits stickers were flown in if Seamless Technologies was hired to provide such a service locally.
“Taking cognisance of the upcoming general elections and the purpose of the stickers, which is to identify and track Kiems kit bags, it would be a risk and a threat to credible and accountable distribution of legitimate Kiems kits bags to respective polling stations ... This may be very costly to the country,” Mr Kinoti said in his statement.
DCI said the 16 rolls of elections kits identification stickers were for polling stations in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kiambu, Meru, Machakos, Murang’a, Nyeri, Tharaka-Nithi, Nyandarua, Bomet and Kericho.
According to the DCI boss, Mr Chebukati had failed to tell Kenyans of other stickers that had been brought into the country, as well as the presence of a blank roll the police said they had found.
“Chebukati is not telling Kenyans the total number of stickers specified and procured by the IEBC. He needs to tell Kenyans just as he is enthusiastic to harangue on perceived harassment to enable the public to reconcile the total number of stickers the IEBC can account for as of now,” Mr Kinoti said.
The DCI also disputed Mr Chebukati’s concerns that the confiscation of the equipment carried by the Venezuelan citizens – which the police say was one laptop, an unspecified number of flash disks and a smartphone – was a threat to the preparations for the elections.
“Is Mr Chebukati telling Kenyans that the entire election is contained in this one personal laptop, a few flash discs and a personal phone? How casual! Does Mr Chebukati want to tell us that in the event the luggage got lost or misplaced in any of the connecting airports, there could be no elections in Kenya?
“Smartmatic Company won the tender as the highest scoring technological company to have the entire important and sensitive information in such gadgets and stored in such a pedestrian manner. This is laughable!” Mr Kinoti went on.
“We are challenging Mr Chebukati to put his house in order and walk the talk of delivering, in his own words, a free, fair, and credible 2022 General Election that meets the democratic aspirations of the people of Kenya.
“He should desist from intimidating and blackmailing responsible players in exercising their rightful duties by constantly misusing the media through press statements or otherwise,” Mr Kinoti concluded.
