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Kenya: IEBC Chairperson confirms ICT manager's death

Kenya: IEBC Chairperson confirms ICT manager's death

The search for ICT manager at Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come to an end after the IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati this afternoon confirmed the death of Chris Musando.

Chebukati told media outside the City Mortuary in Nairobi a few hours ago that Musando's death came as a shock.

"We learned with shock, the killing and murder of Mr Musando. There is no doubt that he was tortured and murdered. I know a post mortem will be done. In our mind as a Commission the only issue is who killed him and why. That is a question we need answered."

Chekubati also appealed for the government to offer employees of the IEBC more security in order to ensure a credible election process.

"We are a few days from elections and we all know it is the duty of the government to provide security for all Kenyans and at this point in time I demand from the government that they provide security for all employees of IEBC for us to give Kenyans a free and fair election. We are working with the police and the family to ensure that the killer of Chris Musando must be brought to book."

Chekubati added that the organisation would issue a formal announcement of Musando's death in due course from its headquarters in Nairobi.

"Today we were to have the launch of a simulation exercise at at Bomas of Kenya but that will be postponed and a new date will be announced for that sim exercise. I appeal to all our employees countrywide to be calm as we go through this period of mourning with the family. The family has lost, IEBC has lost. Chris was one of the most educated employees of IECBC and in the ICT sector. He was the driving stone in the IEBC, but he leaves behind a team at IEBC whom he has trained and who will carry on his work."

The management of ICT infrastructure during Kenya's upcoming elections has been of particular concern due to the increased use of electronic means to facilitate the process as well as the growing impact of fake news spread through the internet among other issues.

Chebukati has previously emphasised that the Commission has put an integrated electronic electoral system to govern the process of voter registration, verification and results transmission for the August 8 2017 election.

"An online platform to query the register of voters is available on the Commission's website. One needs to enter only your ID or Passport number, whichever document was used to register with, and the names, polling station and other details will appear. Voters may also access the same information by sending an SMS message to short code number 70000. We will continue to provide this SMS register query service until the day before the elections."

Photographs of Musando's car were distributed on social media early on Monday morning as police towed the ICT Manager's vehicle to Nairobi's Kasarani Police Station.

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