Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Data Centre and
Infrastructure boss Chris Msando addresses a media briefing at
Anniversary Towers on July 6, 2017. His has been found dead. PHOTO |
FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
- US ambassador Robert F. Godec and British High Commissioner Nic Hailey condemned the killing and said they welcomed the government’s commitment to investigate the crime
- Mr Msando, a systems development manager, is reported to have played a key role in the management of computer systems
for voter identification, transmission and tallying of results.
- Mortuary staff said Mr Msando’s body was taken to the City Mortuary at 11.20am on Saturday and booked as an unidentified African male.
- The body had injuries to the hands, stomach, back of the head, wrist and neck.
America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain’s Scotland
Yard may be drafted into the investigation to unmask the killers of
election technology manager Christopher Chege Msando.
That is if the government accepts the offer of help by the US and Britain on Monday evening.
US
ambassador Robert F. Godec and British High Commissioner Nic Hailey
condemned the killing and said they welcomed the government’s commitment
to investigate the crime, adding: “We have offered our assistance in
the investigation.”
The body of Mr Msando, stripped to
his underwear, was identified on Monday at City Mortuary, three days
after he was reported missing.
His left arm appeared broken and he had wounds.
KEY ROLE
Mr Msando, a systems development manager, is reported to have played a key role in the management of computer systems for voter identification, transmission and tallying of results.
for voter identification, transmission and tallying of results.
He had made a report to the police that his life was in danger.
The
naked body of a woman found near his is yet to be identified. No one
has come forward to claim it, possibly because her family is unaware
that she has been killed.
Mortuary staff said Mr
Msando’s body was taken to the City Mortuary at 11.20am on Saturday and
booked as an unidentified African male.
It was taken to
the mortuary by a vehicle from Kikuyu Police Station after it was
discovered in a thicket in Nguriunditu area in Kikuyu.
CHEBUKATI
Mr
Msando’s disappearance was made public by his boss, Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati in a press
statement on Sunday morning, moments after his wife, Elsa Auma,
reported the same at the Embakasi Police Station.
In
his statement, Mr Chebukati said the last communication from Mr Msando
was in a mobile phone text to one of his colleagues at around 3am on
Saturday.
He was supposed to attend a meeting that morning at Anniversary Towers.
“The
SMS suggests that he was conscious and fully aware of his itinerary for
that day,” Mr Chebukati said of the man who was recently appointed to
act as IEBC’s Data Centre and Infrastructure manager. He had acted as
the ICT director after Mr James Muhati was sent on a 30-day compulsory
leave on May 27 after failing to cooperate with the audit department.
VEHICLE FOUND
Mr Msando’s vehicle, a Land Rover Discovery 3, registration number KCB 262Q was found at the TRM Drive behind the Thika Road Mall.
Police towed the vehicle to the Kasarani Police Station at 1am.
Nairobi
County Police Commander Japhet Koome said the vehicle had been dusted
for fingerprints and that there was nothing out of the ordinary with the
vehicle, which had been well parked by the road.
At
8am, police officers from the Special Crime Prevention Unit, Scene of
Crime and the Flying Squad, led by its head, Mr Said Kiprotich, visited
one of the block of flats nearby, where they spent the better part of
the morning.
The Nation could not establish whether the officers entered any of the houses in the block.
INTERROGATED
The officers also interrogated a number of people, including the guards and caretakers of the block and neighbouring houses.
After
the body was identified by the family on Monday morning, other family
members, his colleagues, friends and bosses at IEBC arrived to view it.
Some
relatives, overwhelmed by emotion, chased away some staff from IEBC,
claiming that they were responsible for the murder of their relative.
The body had injuries to the hands, stomach, back of the head, wrist and neck.
An
emotional Mr Chebukati, flanked by CEO Ezra Chiloba and commissioners,
among them Dr Roselyn Akombe, said the commission was saddened by the
murder of Mr Msando.
POSTMOTERM
He
termed the death as “murder” even as he agreed that a post-mortem had
to be carried out to determine the cause of his death. “He had been
tortured and we demand to know who killed him and why,” he said.
He
demanded thorough investigations to find the killers and asked the
government to provide security to IEBC employees, especially as the
country heads to the General Election.
He, however, appealed for calm, as “this is the only way we can deliver free and fair election”.
He postponed a simulation that Mr Msando was supposed to conduct to demonstrate how results would be transmitted on August 8.
On Friday, Mr Msando had appeared for a panel interview on NTV’s AM Live morning show, where he discussed exhaustively the transmission of election results on Tuesday next week.
The discussion lasted one and a half hours from 6am to 7.30am.
DEMONSTRATION
Later, he was a guest on KTN for some minutes between 6pm and 7pm where he held a brief demonstration of the system.
He also highlighted the commission’s election preparedness and the plans it had put in place to ensure the election is credible.
A
close friend of Mr Msando said information from a company that provided
a tracking device for Mr Msando’s vehicle said it had been on Thika
Road and later Mombasa Road on Saturday.
The friend said Mr Msando had, two days before he disappeared, expressed fears for his life.
The
friend, who requested anonymity to speak about the matter, said the
deceased had also, in May, reported to the Central Police Station that
he had been threatened.
CITY MORTUARY
Mr
Msando’s brother, Peter Msando said at the City Mortuary that the
family was still in shock and requested that investigations into his
death be speeded up.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet had not returned the Nation’s calls by the time of going to press.
Kenyans
took to social media to question his killing, with most of them
directing their anger to people who had earlier speculated that the ICT
boss was enjoying his weekend in Roysambu.
Gatundu
South MP, Moses Kuria, who had on Sunday posted a picture of himself
next to Mr Msando’s vehicle, with allegations that he was having fun
with a woman, came under fire on Twitter and Facebook.
“So,
this is Chris Msando’s vehicle right now here in Roysambu. The idiot is
enjoying sweet time with a woman. And the story was that he is privy to
“rigging” and he can’t be found. Verily verily I say unto you Raila.
You will not burn this country. Not when I am alive,” Mr Kuria had said
in the post that has since been deleted.
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