The electoral agency is on the spot for the loss of critical voter registration and identification equipment at the height of the August 2022 General Election.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) learnt that 125 biometric voter registration (BVR) kits, 952 Electronic Voter Identification (Evid) kits, and 1,325 hard disks, were stolen from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) warehouses ahead of the polls.
IEBC chief executive Marjan Hussein Marjan was put to task to explain whether the theft did not amount to interference with the elections.
The IEBC data submitted to the committee chaired by Nominated MP John Mbadi shows that 952 Evid laptops were stolen at the Kisumu warehouse.
There was a theft of 31 BVR laptops and 45 charges at the Karachuonyo Constituency while Nyando Constituency lost two laptops.
At Muhoroni Constituency, IEBC lost one laptop, a heavy-duty military-grade suitcase, two fingerprint scanners, three flash disks, a backpack, a laptop charger, two Logitech cameras and a USB hub.
The commission’s four laptops and two power cables were stolen in Emuhaya Constituency while in Kajiado North, two laptops and a CRV server were stolen.
The IEBC data shows that 21 BVR laptops and four generators were stolen in Tharaka Nithi Constituency.
In the Nandi County warehouse, the commission lost assets worth Sh16.5 million.
Nandi County saw the theft of 41 laptops, 10 fingerprint scanners, seven Logitech cameras, 104 rechargeable batteries, three generators and 23 full BVR kits.
Mr Marjan told lawmakers that the theft cases were reported on diverse dates. “I cannot say why the BVR and the Evids were largely stolen in Nyanza. I have not exercised my mind to that,” Mr Marjan said when he appeared before MPs to respond to audit queries for the year to June 2021.
