Nairobi — Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga has claimed that Venezuelan national José Carmago is in Kenya to tamper with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers. Odinga said Carmago was accompanied by three other Venezuelan nationals and that they met with former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and Communications Authority Director General Ezra Chiloba. “We have information that four Venezuelans led by José Carmago are in the country to tamper with @IEBCKenya servers. We have information that they have met with CA CEO Ezra Chiloba & the former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati… they are now at Maasai Mara Lodge,” he tweeted.
In his 2022 presidential petition, Odinga’s legal team alleged that Venezuelan officials were brought into Kenya to interfere with the general election and overturn the Azimio La Umoja victory. Senior Counsel James Orengo, leading the team, told the Supreme Court that Carmago, Joel Gustavo Rodríguez García, and Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez had tampered with the presidential results. The team argued that the three individuals arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, after election materials were found in their luggage, used those materials to rig the election in favor of President William Ruto.
The IEBC, however, clarified that the three men work for Smartmatic International B.V., the firm contracted to provide technology for the upcoming polls. Odinga, a former prime minister, has been urging the opening of the poll commission’s servers, insisting his victory was stolen in the August 9 general elections. He reiterated that he won with 8.9 million votes, citing revelations from a whistleblower inside the poll agency.
President William Ruto dismissed Odinga’s calls to open the servers, calling the demands “an insult to our collective intelligence and democracy.” “It is necessary for our friends to know that the servers were opened when we all went to the polling stations,” Ruto said on Thursday.
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