The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has revealed the circumstances surrounding the arrest of three Venezuelans, aligning the agency against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
According to DCI, the Venezuelan nationals; Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia and Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez were arrested after their bag, which contained election materials, was flagged at the airport.
Carmago was initially held at the airport upon arrival on July 21, 2022, after security agents discovered suspicious bags in his hands.
“Camargo confessed that he was given the materials from Panama by his company M/S Smartmatic International Holding B.V and that the material was destined for a private office in Nairobi,” he said.
The bag contained 17 rolls of stickers aimed at various voting places, with a total of 10,000 stickers aimed at serving 10 counties.
Police discovered that the suspects’ contracts did not specifically say that they were employees of the IEBC or the IT business hired to distribute election materials, as alleged by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.
“From the aforesaid invitation letters, it is clear that the three foreigners were in Kenya solely for business with Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, applying for his personnel who he had contracted to come to his office in Nairobi for work-related activities. It is also clear that the said Camargo and his two counterparts were to report to Mohamed’s office at Nairobi and not at IEBC offices,” he further stated.
As per the DCI chief, the evidence proves that Mohamed was not also an IEBC employee, as Chebukati claimed.
According to Kinoti, the authorities took a package carrying 17 rolls of stickers intended to serve at least 10,000 voting booths in ten counties.
Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Meru, Machakos, Murang’a, Bomet, Nyeri, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua, and Kericho are among them.
Chebukati’s statement is labelled dishonest and orchestrated by DCI, who challenges him to get his house in order before the election.
“We find the Chairperson Chebukati to be insincere and dishonest by declaring people who have been disowned by his own staff as IEBC personnel. Chebukati’s statement was well choreographed, planned and strategically crafted to raise an alarm by sensationalizing a false statement to sway the masses who are the public to believe that the police arbitrarily arrested and harassed IEBC personnel,” the DCI said.
The IEBC had accused the police of arbitrary arrest and intimidation of its electoral technology personnel on Thursday.
“The three, who are Smartmatic International BV workers, were arrested upon arrival at JKIA from Venezuela,” Chebukati added, without explaining why the foreigner was carrying electoral materials in his own luggage or why the police had not been informed of such a cargo.
Chebukati stated that the three foreigners were tasked with helping the commission in deploying electoral materials – KIEMS kits across the country.
He claimed that IEBC followed due procedure by informing airport officials about their arrival in advance.
“IEBC has a valid legal contract executed between itself and Smartmatic International B.V. for the supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System,” read the statement in part.
Further, IEBC demanded the government release the officials unconditionally, questioning whether the arrests were part of a plot to manipulate election results.
“Technology plays a central role in elections and the commission wonders what the intention behind the holding of the technical personnel is meant to achieve.
“IEBC wishes to inform the public that the arrest and continued holding of the personnel have the inevitable effect of hampering the deployment of technology in the forthcoming General Election.”
Police officers at JKIA, however, wondered why the commission was bestowing trust in foreigners to transport sensitive material supposed to be sealed as highly confidential cargo
IEBC was asked to produce a detailed report on how the foreigners were in possession of election material.
The ballot papers, which began arriving on July 7 and will continue until July 29, when the final batch is due to arrive at JKIA before the August 9 elections, according to the electoral agency.
After a section of employees alleged that they were told at the last minute of the arrival of the first batch of vote papers two weeks ago, the commission has been battling charges of infighting on the manner in which election materials are sourced.
Smartmatic International was also embroiled in controversy during Venezuela’s parliamentary elections in 2017 after it revealed that over one million ballots had been tampered with.
Despite the fact that it was not participating, the business claimed that the election’s turnout had been manipulated.
Venezuela’s electoral commission, on the other hand, insisted that the results were not tampered with. The corporation will later leave Venezuela under mysterious circumstances in 2018.
The corporation had previously been involved in a scandal during the same country’s elections in 2004. Electronic fraud and anomalies were reported by a segment of election monitors overseeing the elections.
