IEBC’s Defense Over Venezuelans Accessing IEBC Servers

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, August 8, 2022.jpg
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, August 8, 2022.
Kenyans.co.ke

The independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has defended its decision to grant three Venezuelan nationals access to its election servers.

Through lawyer Eric Gumbo, the electoral body, on September 1, stated that the three foreigners were contracted by Smartmatic - one of the providers of technology used in the August 9 polls.

Gumbo, moreover, indicated that the three were tasked with maintaining the technology and ensuring it worked effectively on the polling day.

Lawyer Eric Gumbo representing the IEBC at the Supreme Court on September 1, 2022.
Lawyer Eric Gumbo representing the IEBC at the Supreme Court on September 1, 2022.
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The Judiciary of Kenya

IEBC maintained that none of the three accessed the system during the election day as alleged in the petition filed by Raila Odinga and Martha Karua and seven other petitioners.

"The contract between IEBC and Smartmatic was for the supply and maintenance of the infrastructure that they had. It then meant that they had to bring their personnel to manage or monitor the smooth running of that system.

"Before the election, these people were all logged out and on the date of the election, none of these people was in the system," Gumbo argued.

The IEBC lawyer also told the apex court that the evidence provided by the petitioners only indicated that the foreigners had access to the server and did not prove that they were engaged in any electoral fraud.

'It would make a lot of sense if someone said that so and so got into the system and interfered with the system in this manner. It is not enough to say Gumbo was found in the system. What matters here is around manipulation or alteration of votes," he added.

In their petition, Azimio La Umoja flagbearer, Raila, and his running mate Martha Karua allege that the foreigners who had access to the servers were used to manipulate the Form 34 As that were transmitted through KIEMS kits from the polling stations.

The duo cite analysed reports on the electoral technology and affidavits by some of the commissioners i.e. Justus Nyanga'ya who stated that the technology of the elections was manipulated by foreigners.

This was in line with an audit report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) which questioned why the three had access to critical election technology yet they were not employees of IEBC.

“It was established that the confiscated exhibits had substantial information held in the IEBC systems are in full control of foreign employees of M/S Smartmatic International Holdings B.V. and Seamless Limited who have been contracted by IEBC.

“Castellano was in a position to remotely access the entire IEBC data and has the capacity to add, delete, edit or manipulate in any manner the entire IEBC system," read the report in part.

“It was established that the confiscated exhibits had substantial information held in the IEBC systems are in full control of foreign employees of M/S Smartmatic International Holdings B.V. and Seamless Limited who have been contracted by IEBC. Castellano was in a position to remotely access the entire IEBC data and has the capacity to add, delete, edit or manipulate in any manner the entire IEBC system," the DCI report added in part. 

DCI stated that they made the findings following their investigations done after the three foreigners were apprehended at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The DCI- National Forensic Laboratory building
The DCI- National Forensic Laboratory building.
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DCI