‘I was not aware,’ IEBC CEO says on allegations against company providing election technology

Smartmatic International Holding B.V, the company tasked with providing election technology ahead of next month’s polls, is faced by a trail of accusations that could compromise its credibility; but it all seems like it escaped the eye of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

According to available reports, Smartmatic’s credibility and the integrity of its systems have previously been questioned in at least five of the countries it has operated in; Philippines, Venezuela, Uganda, Nigeria, and USA.

In 2004, the company conducted Venezuela’s presidential election but was accused of allegedly making pay-outs to government officials as well as skewing the polls.

Smartmatic in 2016 then proceeded to the Philippines to administer the elections, but later the country’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Centre (CICC) accused the company of being compromised.

The company’s technology was also notably used in one county in the 2020 U.S elections, after which its role was scrutinized by one of the country’s major news outlets, leading to it filing a defamation suit.

However, despite all these, IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marjan Hussein Marjan – who heads the commission secretariat that is in charge of procurement – claims he was unaware.

Marjan, appearing during a joint TV interview on Wednesday night, said the queries surrounding the company’s credibility were not brought to his attention before the decision was made to hand them the tender for the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) kits.

According to the IEBC CEO, the team that was tasked with evaluating companies that applied to supply the KIEMS kits did not cite any of these cases in its report.

Asked whether he was aware of Smartmatic’s past, Marjan straight up said, “No”, adding that “I was not aware because I rely on the evaluation committee, after they do their do the due diligence and provide me with the report. Therefore, this news being provided now are things I was not even aware about. These issues were never cited.”

Marjan further stated that he would not be in a position to answer to any queries touching on the allegations, saying that they should instead be directed to Smartmatic itself.

“This would require the company to respond. This information did not come to our attention. This is probably based on information gathered from the internet, and I think it would be proper if this question can actually be directed to the respective question for them to respond,” he stated.

He further added: “This is a procurement process. You only commence a procurement process upon provision of the budget. The budget was the purpose of general election was provided on 2021/2022 July; and therefore, that is the time when you can be able to procure a vendor. And this is open tender, so the people who participate in that tender are the ones we evaluate.”

Citizen Digital contacted Smartmatic International Holding and the company dismissed the allegations as mere controversies expected to emerge in any election.

“Elections are prone to controversies. This is true in Kenya, the United States, France and basically everywhere in the world. It is therefore extremely important that people who bear the responsibility of forming public opinion to be on the alert for biased reporting, clickbait articles and fake news,” Samira Saba, the company’s Head of Communications told Citizen Digital.

For instance, in the Venezuelan case where the company was accused of skewing the presidential polls, Saba pointed out that the system they deployed was hailed as the “best voting system in the world” by former US President Jimmy Carter.

“From 2004 until 2017, we provided technology and services for all national elections organized by Venezuela’s National Elections Council. Former US President and founder of the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter, named the system we developed for Venezuela “the best voting system in the world,” she said.

Similarly, she dismissed the accusations arising from Smartic’s handling of the Phillipines elections saying: “Despite all the misinformation and disinformation on the cyberspace, the Philippines is today a reference for well-run elections.”

In the US case, Saba explained that Los Angeles hired Smartmatic to bring to live what is considered one of the most advanced and voter-centric election systems in existence, and that contrary to accusations the project was a phenomenon.

“The Voting Solutions for All People allows voters to cast their ballot in any of 13 languages, from any vote center in the county, for a period of 11 days. We’re proud to have been part of this ground-breaking project,” she said.

Saba maintains that the company is a highly reputable organization and has deployed election technologies in 31 countries across five continents.

“For the last 20 years, Smartmatic has built its reputation as the undisputed leader in the elections industry,” said Saba.