NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept, 3 – A Venezuelan walked into a courtroom, well in this case, figuratively in the corridors of justice, where his name was uttered frequently by lawyers representing petitioners disputing the outcome of the presidential election results that saw United Democratic Alliance’s William Ruto declared president-elect by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati.
On the final day of hearing before the Supreme Court of Kenya, Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos became the center of attention, over his role in the concluded polls which petitioners led by Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga wants to be nullified by the country’s apex court.
Carmgao is said to be among other people working with Smartmatic International, the company contracted by IEBC to provide IT support during the polls.
Now, his name became the talk of town following lawyers’ submissions on his alleged role in ‘stealing’ elections in favour of a particular candidate.
“This is the person who decided the president-elect of the country. It is on the IEBC portal; it is live. We were told the foreigners left before August 8. This person is the one who was interfering with the forms. We didn’t make this up. We were told we forged these documents. This is how, my lord, the staging was happening. This is how the changes were happening,” said Lawyer Julie Soweto.
Soweto said the Venezuelan’s name appeared on the top left corner of a form she projected in court from Gacharaigu Primary School polling station 2 in Kangema in Murang’a County.
IEBC lawyer Mahat Somane however refuted the claims saying Camargo’s name which appeared on a form 34A from Gacharaigu Primary School polling station in Kangema Constituency, Murang’a County, was an overlay.
He further said the image of the form 34A uploaded on the IEBC portal was taken on top of another document bearing his name.
“A presiding officer took an original form 34A…he had the QR register and he took a picture of it. The register of the QR code was printed by Smartmatic International was printed in the name of Jose Carmago,”
“The document relating to Jose Camargo has come from the QR register which is distributed to every polling station. The question that someone called Jose Camargo was interfering with the portal is actually not true. It’s incorrect,” said Somane.
The IEBC legal counsel said that it was impossible to tamper with the results since the form 34A uploaded on the portal and the physical form 34A bore the same contents.
Someone however acknowledged that there were errors as forms in Mt. Elgon and Nyeri bore the same serial number at the same time noting that despite the anomaly, KIEMS kits in the areas had different IMEI numbers and IP addresses, hence having different identifiers.
Lawyer Willis Otieno however questioned the IEBC on Carmago’s role.
“My learned friend Somane said it’s like a plumber maintaining the system. Let me say this: once a plumber has fixed your bathroom, that plumber has no business being in your bathroom when you are showering. If you find him at that time, you tell him, ‘Get behind me, Satan’ as was said in the book of Mark 8:33 in the Bible when the devil entered Peter and Jesus told him, ‘Get behind me, Satan.’ A plumber who is in your bathroom when you are showering is no longer a plumber. He is a sexual offender and should be reported,” he said.
Origin Of The Venezuelans
Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez, and Salvador Javier Suarez were arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)days before the elections with alleged electoral materials.
Shortly after, IEBC accused police of arresting three officials responsible for the deployment and management of election technology.
“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,” a report by DCI at the time read in part.
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.
“The Commission is concerned about this unjustified intimidation, harassment, and blackmail whatsoever and demands the immediate release of the three employees of Smartmatic International BV,” said Chebukati at the time.
Days after that incident, 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 week of 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’.
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