Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chair Wafula Chebukati has issued an update on the deployment of technology to facilitate the August 9 General Election.
This comes amidst the controversial arrest of three individuals after the discovery of IEBC stickers in the personal luggage of a foreigner.
In the latest statement from Chebukati which was posted at 1.00 am on Tuesday, he explained that the stickers were non-strategic election material and that the deployment of the Kenyan Integrated Elections Management System was on course.
He also sought to clarify why a local businessman had been in contact with the three foreigners and facilitated their travel.
The IEBC chair said that the Commission entered into a valid legal contract on 25th November 2021 with Smartmatic International Holdings B.V for the supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance of the KIEMS.
During the competitive bidding process, Smartmatic was found to have achieved the highest technical and financial score among the 5 bidders and was awarded the contract.
The contract is being implemented at a cumulative project cost of Sh3.2 billion.
He explained that one of the conditions in the tender was that Smartmatic should provide a detailed support and maintenance plan and attach documentary proof of ICT technical support staff with a local registered office in Kenya.
Smartmatic complied with this condition by providing a local partner in the country who facilitated the foreigners’ recent travel into the country.
Chebukati also praised that the company has supplied 14,100 additional KIEMS kits to the Commission, bringing the total number of kits that are in good working condition to 55,100.
“For easy identification of the KIEMS kits, Smartmatic is required to provide stickers to aid in labelling each of the kits for purposes of packaging and dispatch to all polling stations. The deployment of the KIEMS kits is currently underway,” the IEBC chair said.
“The Commission would like to reassure the Nation that it remains committed to delivering a free, fair and credible 2022 General Election that meets the democratic aspirations of the people of Kenya,” Chebukati assured.
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti
The issue has seen IEBC clashing with Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti who accused the three foreigners of travelling into the country with expired passports.
Kinoti also said, that the three Venezuelans were on a private business trip and scheduled to meet a businessman Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed in Nairobi.
“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 DCI boss claimed.
