Gachagua accuses IEBC of poll rigging plan in procurement of election management system

According to the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) boss, insiders from the commission have revealed to him that Chairman Erastus Ethekon and his Vice Chair Fahima Abdallah are determined to force MIRU Systems Technology from South Korea by awarding them the supply tender.

He claimed that IEBC commissioners tried to force officials in the Directorate of Supply Chain Management and the Directorate of Electoral Management to defend the Commission in a case filed before the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board challenging the skewed procurement.

"The officials have firmly refused to give false testimony to facilitate corruption and electoral fraud," he alleged in a statement on Tuesday.

Gachagua alleged that the insiders have intimated to him that Ethekon and Fahima have victimized officials in the aforementioned departments and transferred them, except the head of department, to far-flung counties and replaced them with their cronies.

He argued that procuring a new election management system, 11 months away from the General Election, is not practical for facilitating digital migration from the current system and addressing any anticipated inadequacies.

"Again, there is real and genuine fear that the change of the election management system at this late hour is a scheme to interfere with the voters' register, mostly in areas where Mr. William Ruto has been openly rejected," he noted.

He called upon the Commission to call off the tender and instead upgrade the current system, warning the two accused chiefs of dire ramifications if they uphold the alleged manipulation and harassment of staffers.

Kenya procured its Integrated Election Management System (IEMS) from Venezuela's Smartmatic International Holding B.V in 2022.