MANDERA—On the first week of February, a group of Al Shabab militants attacked an administration police camp at Arabia in Mandera County.
The group left a trail of destruction behind. They made away with hardware and ammunition.
Lafey Deputy County Commissioner Eric Oronyi told the Nation that Al Shabab made away with the BVR machines stored at the camp.
“The attackers made away with a police vehicle, a motorcycle, three rifles, bullets and four voter registration kits belonging to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission,” Mr Oronyi said.
Although the officer said that the BVR machines, which still remain at large were part of what Al Shabab made away with, Kenyans are beginning to raise more questions about the raid and who was behind it.
Al Shabab has denied it made away with Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits during the group’s raid on an AP camp in Mandera last week.
Instead, the militant group accused the government of making up the claim.
“The Mujahideen termed as false the claims of the Kenyan Government that some of the things we have seized include some of the election equipment known as BVR,” the group said on its website. The same statement was broadcast on it’s online radio.
“Mujahideen say those equipment were not part of the spoils seized (sic),” the statement further clarified.
If Al Shabab says it has not made away with the electoral kits, then why did Lafey Deputy County Commissioner Eric Oronyi claimed otherwise?
Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission CEO Ezra Chiloba who confirmed the arrests of the three suspects in Eastleigh says the suspects were also found with several IEBC documents.
They include voter transfer forms, 83 copies of IDs, an original acknowledgement slip and a notebook filled with names among others.
“There was also a black book with over 500 names of voters from different constituencies, an indication suspects might have been sourcing individuals for transfer,” Chiloba said when addressing journalists at Pangani Police station where the suspects were held.
He however, assured that no BVR kits were found during the arrests.
“There is no evidence that BVR kits were in possession, or that they were used by the suspects,” Chiloba said.
Why were the suspects collecting voter information if they don’t have a BVR machine to upload the information on.
If Al Shabab said they were behind the attack but not the BVR theft then who actually went away with the machine?
If the CEO of IEBC maintains that, “Even if there could have been BVR kits, it is impossible for people outside the system to tamper with it,” how sure is he that an IEBC official is not in cahoots with the party that was behind the machine theft?
