Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, the presidential candidate of the National Super Alliance (NASA)
Six employees of Kenyan telecom operator Safaricom will be investigated for allegedly conspiring with election board officials to rig the 08 August 2017 presidential elections. This comes after the chief prosecutor ordered an investigation which is to be completed in 21 days. A letter drafted by the public prosecutions Director, Keriako Tobiko has revealed that a team of senior prosecutors will assist in investigating six staff members, reported Telecompaper.
Opposition party, National Super Alliance (NASA), through lawyer Anthony Oluoch, wrote to Tobiko on 29 September 2017 demanding the investigation of six Safaricom staff members namely: Thibaud Rerolle (French National Director Technical and IT Safaricom), Antony Gachanja (Head of Technology Security), Shaka Kwach (Head of Special Projects in charge of elections), Robert Mutai (Head of Technology Strategy, Assurance and Governance), Farouk Gaffour (Head of Network and Services Operations) and Andrew Masila (Senior Manager, Strategy and Architecture).
Earlier this week, leader of the opposition party, Raila Odinga, asked his lawyers to investigate the six employees. He claimed that between 25 July 2017 and 11 August 2017 at the Safaricom offices, the six employees, acting in concert with others, intentionally and or recklessly damaged and interfered with Kenya Integrated Election Management System (Kiems) kits used in the polls.
Odinga accused Safaricom of failing to alert the authorities about illegal activities during the electronic transmission of results. He said they were sent to a server in Europe rather than the election centre in the Kenyan capital. He also said 100 biometric voting kits stolen from the election board before the vote were operated illegally on Safaricom’s network but the company failed to notify the authorities.
Safaricom has since denied the accusations, saying they are “reckless, callous and unnecessary” and warned that the allegations could endanger the lives of its members of staff and families.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
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