Chebukati Assures Kenyans Of Fair Election After The Sticker Smuggling Saga By Venezuelans

In the midst of controversy over election stickers reportedly brought into the country illegally by Venezuelan citizens, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has reassured Kenyans of a free, fair, and credible election.

Last Thursday, rolls of election materials were found on three Venezuelans who were detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation, which has claimed that foreigners cannot be confirmed to be workers of Smartmatic International B.V., the business the IEBC hired to provide technology for the August 9th General Election, has taken issue with the election body with their arrest.

The IEBC has now argued that the three were in the nation to carry out a legal contract relating to the use of technology in elections, but DCI has said that the three lacked any letter or other proof that they had been invited by the commission.

The IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati emphasized in a follow-up statement published in local newspapers on Tuesday, July 26, that the stickers in question are not voting kits’ packaging IDs rather than polling place strategies.

“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 1st July, 2022. The stickers contain information on the polling station, polling centre, ward, constituency and county as well as a unique barcode,” said the commission chair.

He additionally exuded confidence in Smartmatic, terming it as a trusted election technology provider whose work spans Belgium, Estonia, Los Angeles County in the U.S., and Zambia.

“The Commission holds regular meetings with Smartmatic to review the project status and ensure delivery of milestones in line with the Elections Operations Plan (EOP). To date, the project’s progress is on track,” said Chebukati…

With only 13 days left before the August 9 General Election, Mr. Chebukati noted that preparation and dispatch of the KIEMS kits for the exercise is currently ongoing.

“Each kit is being loaded with Electronic Voter Identification and Results Transmission System softwares, SIM cards of network operators as well as SD cards containing registered voters’ biographic and biometric data for each polling station,” he said.

In order to inspect the printing of ballot papers at the Inform Lykos (Hellas) SA Company’s manufacturing grounds in Athens, a team of election officials and representatives of the presidential candidates in the State House contest on August 9 have also traveled to Greece.

On Saturday, the group traveling under the direction of IEBC Vice Chair Juliana Cherera and Commissioner Francis Wanderi arrived in Athens.

The journey was made possible by the IEBC so that important stakeholders could see firsthand how the ballots for the elections were printed, packaged, and transported.