John Githongo Reveals How 56 People Were Recruited To Hack IEBC
He noted that the 56-man team had 10 supervisors wherein the whistleblower was one of the supervisors while the other 46 people were doing the data entries.
Marvin Chege 
A former journalist and corruption whistleblower, John Mark Githongo filed an affidavit sharing his interaction with a young man who was among 56 individuals allegedly hired to hack the systems of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) during the elections period.
The affidavit filed at the Supreme Court saw Githongo introduce the man who disclosed that he was a part of a team of 56 people (the team) who had been recruited to steer a grand scheme orchestrated to manipulate the Form 34As before they were uploaded to the IEBC system.
He noted that the 56-man team had 10 supervisors wherein the whistleblower was one of the supervisors while the other 46 people were doing the data entries.
IEBC chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, during a past media address. /FILE
Githongo argued that the team was instructed to alter the vote count from one presidential candidate to the other by way of deduction while keeping the total number of valid votes cast.
"Their task was to receive the Form 34A’s from the KIEMS Kits which were sent to their server/platform which he termed as Uchaguzi Tallying. After receiving the said data, they would edit the necessary form 34A’s according to the instructions given to them by their leaders and thereafter upload the said edited Form 34A’s to the IEBC portal.
"That the said Form 34A’s would be received in JPEG(Picture) format, edited and then uploaded in PDF format in the IEBC Portal. That the team was indoctrinated on the phrase freedom is coming and that they needed to be freed from dynasties; in this case the Petitioner," his affidavit further read.
Gthongo further claimed that the man informed him that they had access to the back end of the IEBC server through an arrangement between the commission together with Smartmatic, the company that won the tender to provide election technology in the just concluded general election; and, officials of the IEBC’s ICT Department.
The interface dubbed Uchaguzi Tallying was allegedly created to receive data directly from the KIEMS Kits before the same could thereafter be sent to the IEBC server.
"That the form 34A’s from the different KIEMS Kits would be transmitted to the ‘Uchaguzi Tallying” server where they would have access to the said forms. They would in turn edit the said forms to conform to the numbers as instructed.
"After the editing, the edited form 34As would then be uploaded back to the system," the affidavit added.
Githongo had convinced the man to give the evidence before court but he was hesitant to do so, arguing that this would put his life in grave danger.
The other solution was to have him record a statement on camera that would be produced in court to protect him and his family.
The young man, Githongo added, had confirmed to him that their fraudulent activities had significantly altered the outcome of the presidential results.
"That from the meeting, it clearly came out that the results in the IEBC Portal are not those that were transmitted by the KIEMS kit but rather were substituted results. In fact, the young man confirmed that they hacked the IEBC Portal and that they still have access to the IEBC Portal to date, only that they cannot change anything in the portal to avoid raising suspicion," he added.
Githongo's affidavit caused a debate on social media, with some arguing that the evidence might not be admissible in court.
