NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul, 29 – At the footsteps of the Police headquarters in Nairobi, the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, his counterpart, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati made a united ‘front’ saying that a row over the back and forth over the arrest of three Venezuelan nationals, said to employees of Smartmatic International BV has finally ended.
Chebukati said that the matter had been resolved after intense discussions with the police bosses. However, he did not say what was discussed as they refused to answer questions from journalists hoping to obtain answers after days of what was described as a ‘circus’.
“Today’s meeting arises from the issues surrounding the stickers as the IG has stated that has been resolved. The issue is settled and going forward we have committed to work together and if there is any issue we will discuss as national police and the commission,” said Chebukati.
“Finally. with regard to investigation revolving around electoral stickers recently imported into the country. I wish to inform Kenyans that the matter has been resolved,” said Mutymbai.
An elaborate statement from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) last week shone a light on what seemed to be a scandal brewing at the heart of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the management of elections after sleuths at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) arrested three Venezuelan nationals with purported election materials.
DCI boss George Kinoti refuted claims that the Venezuelan nationals worked with the technology firm.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations reiterates that contrary to falsehoods and innuendo peddled by Mr Wafula Chebukati in his press release on July 22, 2022, that the three persons he alleged were arrested, were not personnel or staff working for the commission,” the report read in part.
In a report, Kinoti said that despite IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati’s claims, the three, since identified as Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez and Salvador Javier Suarez are not employees of Smartmatic International, a firm contracted by IEBC to run the agency’s technological network during the 2022 General Election.
The three were arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Thursday with alleged electoral materials.
The Venezuelans are further said to have been in the country on a private business trip to meet Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, a businessman, in the country’s capital Nairobi.
One of the arrested foreign nationals, Castellanos, is said to have been set to meet up with Mohammed who allegedly paid for his air ticket and was supposed to meet his benefactor in Nairobi. He was arrested on July, 22 after being found with election materials.
The materials are said to have been IEBC stickers for an estimated 10,000 polling stations nationwide.
An unprinted roll was also recovered by sleuths.
DCI said that the materials were for 100 counties incising: Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru, Machakos, Murang’a, Bomet, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua, and Kericho.
“Upon probing the suspect, it emerged that Mr Camargo did not bear any letter or documentation indicating that he had been invited by IEBC and as such the materials in his possession belonged to Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed,” the report adds.
Upon a probe by detectives the three, however, said that they were scheduled to meet businessman, Abdi, at his Nairobi office. They were also found to have traveled using expired passports.
They expired on November 13, 2019, and February 11, 2020, respectively.
The IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the three were arbitrarily arrested, despite an explanation that they were legally in the country.
A man, whose name has been featured prominently in the saga spoke out for the first time, in an interview with Ntv, distancing himself from any scandal.
Abdullah Mohammed is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Seamless Limited, technology,a firm said to be involved in the saga.
Mohammed however said that his firm had been sub-contracted by Smartmatic International BV and was acting as its local agent.
Smartmatic was awarded a Sh4 billion voter identification equipment and software tender in November 2021.
According to the law, such firms are expected to either have a local office or appoint an agent before rendering services to government institutions.
Despite this, a whirlwind of events, casting doubt on the country’s electoral process continues to rage on, with Mohammed saying that his reputation has been ‘smeared’ even after cooperating with the DCI to explain his involvement in the electoral process.
“Smartmatic had subcontracted me for the upcoming polls and while the saga ensued,I recorded statements with the DCI and gave all corresponding documents that pointed to the working relations between Smartmatic, IEBC, the Venezuelan nationals, and Seamless technologies,” said Mohammed, CEO Seamless Technologies.
He is now saying that his life is in danger amid the disheartening manner in which the case has been handled by the investigating agency.
“Having cooperated with the DCI, I am surprised that the DCI chose to share partial information with the public that has since turned me into a person of interest,” he said.
As of Wednesday, 27,2022, a quick check in the morning revealed that the company’s website was ‘unreachable’ while Mohammed’s online profile on LinkedIn was no longer available.
Seamless Limited is said to have been registered back in 2010.
Seamless Limited as an agent of Smartmatic was expected to train IEBC officials on how to use the Kenya Integrated Election (KIEMS) kit.
In his statement, the poll body chairperson appearing to address the DCI indirectly said that KIEMS kit stickers were non-strategic election materials.
“It is important to note that the stickers are non-strategic election materials. The stickers were printed based on the details of the Gazette notice published on July 1, 2022. The information therein is available to the public and can be accessed on the commission’s website. The stickers contain information on the polling station, polling center, ward, constituency, and county as well as a unique barcode,”
IEBC further said that they have an inventory of 45,000 Kiems kits, out of which 41,000 were in good working condition.
Smartmatic is said to have only supplied 14,100 additional Kiems kits to the commission bringing the total number of kits that are in good working condition to 55,100.
The kits are currently being loaded with electronic voter identification and results transmission system softwares, Sim cards of network operators, and voters’ biographic and biometric data.
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