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Friday, July 22, 2022 –Government has issued an official statement on the arrest of three Venezuelans who were nabbed at the airport carrying sensitive elections material.
The three were arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport JKIA on Thursday July 21 carrying election stickers in their personal handbags, what raised more questions.
And today Friday July 22, Inspector of Police Hillary Mutyambai while responding to claims that they had intimidated the Venezuelans who are working for Smartmatic International Holding B.V, said it is wrong for a person to enter into the country with undeclared goods.
He also reported that the three foreigners who were carrying the materials did not have any Independent Electoral and Boundaries IEBC official accompanying them; what is against the standard procedures.
“The arrest was done and the three were released. Interestingly, they did not have any IEBC official accompanying them,” Mutyambai said in an afternoon presser.
His remarks were echoed by ICT Cabinet Minister Joe Mucheru who rubbished wild claims from Kenya Kwanza-allied politician and IEBC. He said it is ethically wrong for a foreigner to just walk around with elections material and expect government to keep quiet.
He described the incident as illegal and punishable and what should not be seen as mischief from the part of the government.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has since released a series of rants on social media directing the State to quickly release the confiscated materials so that preparation for the August 9 election is not delayed.
Among the items he has listed as having been taken by police officers include several laptops, stickers, tablets etc.
