IEBC Claps Back At DCI Over Arrest Of Venezuelans At JKIA
IEBC argued that the firm has previously been contracted by several election commissions worldwide.
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The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come to the defence of Smartmatic International Holdings, which was put on the spot by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) following the arrest of three Venezuelans at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
In its statement released in the early hours of Tuesday morning, July 26, IEBC chairman, Wafula Chebukati noted that the Smartmatic firm had entered a contract with the Commission on November 25, 2021, for the critical operations of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS).
While giving a brief description of the firm founded in the United States (US) and headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK), IEBC argued that the firm has previously been contracted by several election commissions worldwide. The firm beat others during a competitive bidding process and was awarded the contract, implemented at a cumulative cost of Ksh3.2 billion.
"One of the conditions in the tender document was that the bidder 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," Chebukati stated in part.
Chebukati further justified that before the firm was called upon, it was falling short of 4,000 KIEMS kits out of 45,000 in total.
From the 41,000 that were in good working condition, Smartmatic supplied 14,100 more KIEMS kits to the commission, bringing the total to 55,100 kits in good working condition, with their preparation and dispatch ongoing ahead of the August 9 general elections.
At the same time, he defended the procurement of election materials, including the stickers found in the Venezuelan nationals who were arrested at the airport in possession of them.
"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.
"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," he added.
While the IEBC blamed the DCI over the arrest matter which it alleged had hampered its preparation process ahead of the elections, DCI hit back by saying that the individuals who were busted smuggling the private materials into Kenyan territory, were not hired by the commission and were in the country on private matters.
“The officers were shocked how a foreigner all the way from Venezuela contracted for a very sensitive and high-level service supposedly by IEBC had nobody waiting for him and in particular to receive the sensitive confidential materials.
"We find the Chairperson. Mr Wafula 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," DCI raged in a lengthy statement in part.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss, George Kinoti. /FILE
