The equipment, including hundreds of electronic voter identification documents, were stolen on diverse dates in 2021.
Analysis of the areas where theft of equipment was recorded reveals that, in most instances missing gadgets were in Azimio La Umoja Raila Odinga’s political turf.
The theft, which IEBC chief executive Hussein Marjan said is under investigations, was also reported in two electoral units leaning towards then-Deputy President William Ruto.
Marjan spoke when he appeared before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee chaired by nominated MP John Mbadi.
The stolen gadgets included BVR kits, laptops and finger scanners that were used for electronic registration of voters.
“From the summary, 125 BVR kits were missing and are currently under investigations,” Marjan said.
According the electoral commission's own documents, 952 electronic voter identification documents were stolen from Kisumu county warehouse after the person in charge was transferred and a new one posted in 2011.
In Muhoroni constituency, one Dell laptop, heavy duty military grade suitcase, two fingerprint scanners, three flash disk, backpack, laptop charger, two Logitech cameras and one USB hub disappeared without trace.
In the neighbouring Nyando constituency, IEBC lost two laptops.
In Karachuonyo constituency, Homa Bay county IEBC 31 BVR laptops and 45 charges were stolen.
BVR kits are used for registering voters and comprises a laptop, a finger print scanner and a camera.
It captures a voter’s facial image, finger prints and civil data or Personal Identifiable Information (PII) – name, gender, identity card/passport number and telephone number.
In Emuhaya, four Dell laptops and two power cables were stolen, while in Kajiado North the polls agency lost two Dell laptops and CVR server.
In Markwet West, IEBC lost 26 electronic voter identification devices.
The theft syndicate which the commission said is under investigations also extended to Ruto's strongholds of Nandi and Tharaka Nithi counties.
In Tharaka Nithi constituency, 21 Dell BVR laptops and four generators were stolen while in Nandi the electoral agency lost 41 Dell laptops, 10 fingerprint scanners, seven Logitech cameras, 104 rechargeable batteries, three generators and 23 full BVR kits.
Raila's allies in the committee raised the red flag why the theft was rampant only in the ODM chief's turf and whether the equipment could have been used to tamper with the elections.
“I can see quite a number of constituencies in Nyanza that are Kisumu, Karachuonyo, Muhoroni, among others. I am a bit concerned that this is where we keep the voter registration documents. Why was there such a pattern, why do you think these people got interested in this region?” Mbadi said.
“Most of these losses, especially in Kisumu, happened between April 31 and July 21. Mr CEO tell us how safe are elections in this country if the whole of May, June, July was not even aware who was in charge of those equipment that were lost.”
Marjan, however, allayed fears that the stolen gadgets could have been used to influence the outcome of the August 9, 2022 general election.
The CEO came under fire from members who demanded that he explain why the theft pattern concentrated only in one political region.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo said the pattern is suspect and demanded assurance that the lost gadgets did not in any way influenced the outcome of the last year’s elections.
“125 stolen kits, I am worried that an election official can lose such important gadgets, how is that possible? Can you assure us they were never used to interfere with the 2022 elections,” Oundo said.
“Election in this country is very emotive, elections starts with the registration of voters. Can you give us assurance that this did not affect election results of 2022.”
In his defence, Marjan said he had not given it much thought as to why most of the theft were reported from one region.
“This is the one million-dollar question that I cannot answer right now. Mr chairman, I have not been able to do a deep thinking about this matter but now that it has been brought to my attention I probably believe that we need to take measures on why this is happening,” the IEBC CEO said.
He further said that the kits were empty hardware without any sensitive election data, hence no implications on the election operations and security.
“Notably, the BVR kits were procured in 2012 which means they are over 10 years old, have technically reached end of life, are obsolete and have zero book value. The commission has planned to dispose of all the BVR kits in 2022/23 financial year,” he said.
“Consequently, the commission is currently in the process of transiting to the Kenya Intergrated Election Management System for registration of voters as the enrolment software for use in the KIEMS kits has been acquired.”
