The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IEBC has blamed the arrest of 3 Venezuelan nationals on Tuesday KIEMS kits failure during voting.
IEBC Ceo Hussein Marjan Hussein complained that the confiscation of stickers found in the possession of Venezuelans resulted in the commission’s kits being grounded in its storage.
The electoral authority had to re-label the kits as a result, delaying the delivery of some of the essential devices.
“We had a challenge in logistics and it was brought about due to delays in dispatching them. As you remember, some of the kits were held in our warehouse because of the issue of the stickers. That might have contributed to that,” He stated.
The IEBC Ceo highlighted that the scenario also led to a mix-up in backing up the data of voters, which is saved on memory cards that are unique to each device.
” Remember we said that for one to duplicate the SD cards, you will have to pick biometrics who a whole region but biographics for the whole country, so if you take it to a different place, that machine will not work in that specific area,”
Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos was arrested on July 21 at the JKIA shortly after he arrived. He was found with 17 rolls of stickers that were thought to be election materials.
Two other Venezuelans, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia and Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez, were also arrested after they went to get him.
The arrest of the three led to a tussle between IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati, and the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), George Kinoti.
The two later met and made a truce. The Commission never addressed the whereabouts of the three foreign nationals as it concentrated on finalizing election preparations.
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