The Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati has come out to defend Smartmatic International Holdings while at the same time noting the deal with the Dutch firm was above board.
In a statement released by the electoral body today, IEBC detailed that Smartmatic International beat five other firms to win the lucrative contract back in 2021.
Chebukati also justified the arrival of election materials seized at the airport, including stickers. The Venezuelan nationals were arrested in possession of the said material at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
“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,” IEBC statement read in part.
Chebukati further defended the involvement of the Kenyan firm, Seamless Limited, stating that they are working with the Dutch Company to provide critical technology required during the fast-approaching polls.
“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,” IEBC said.
IEBC Chief Executive Officer, Marjan Hussein Marjan explained that in case the KIEMS kits fail to work, the Commission will use the Alphanumeric search – where the voter’s identification number (ID) will be scanned on its backside and use it to retrieve their true identity from the KIEMS kits.
Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), George Kinoti has since called out IEBC for not being forthright with the truth about the activities of the three foreigners, challenging him to put his house in order.
The DCI claimed that the two Venezuelans were not Smartmatic officials and had travelled to the country using expired passports.
IEBC in their statement argued that the Venezuelans were contracted to help in the ICT sector and deployment of KIEMS kits.
KIEMS kits are set to be used to identify and verify voters come August 9 and the system requires voters to use their fingerprints (biometric) for identification.