In a detailed report, the DCI dismissed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair Wafula Chebukati’s claim that the three Venezuelans are staff of Smartmatic International, a firm contracted by IEBC to run the agency’s technological network during the 2022 General Election.

“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations reiterates that contrary to falsehoods and innuendo peddled by Mr Wafula Chebukati in his press release on July 22, 2022, that the three persons he alleged were arrested, were not personnel or staff working for the commission,” the report reads in part.

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Mr Kinoti said that the three were not affiliated to IEBC as they were in the country on a private business trip to meet Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, a businessman, in Nairobi.

According to the DCI boss, one of the arrested travellers, Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, a Venezuelan national, was in connection with Mr Abdi. The businessman had paid Mr Camargo’s air ticket and he was expected to report to his office after arriving in Nairobi.

Mr Camargo had arrived in the country on Thursday July 21 when he was flagged after being found in possession of election materials.

The materials have since been established to be IEBC stickers for about 10,000 polling stations in 10 counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru, Machakos, Murang’a, Bomet, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua and Kericho. The eleventh roll was unprinted.

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“Upon probing the suspect, it emerged that Mr Camargo did not bear any letter or documentation indicating that he had been invited by IEBC and as such the materials in his possession belonged to Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed,” the report adds.

Three Venezuelans

Two others Venezuelans, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez and Salvador Javier Suarez, joined the fray. They had come looking for Mr Camargo who was still being integrated by the DCI.

Investigations by the DCI, Mr Kinoti says, revealed that the trio were Mr Abdi’s visitors and a letter they produced indicated that they were to meet the businessman at his office and not at the IEBC offices as Mr Chebukati alluded.

Mr Kinoti also said two of the three suspects, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez and Camargo Castellanos, had flown from Venezuela using expired passports. The passports expired on November 13, 2019, and February 11, 2020, respectively. By Derrick Oluoch, Sunday Nation

The US government yesterday announced a Sh30 billion relief package to Kenya to help the country fight the ongoing drought. The funds, donated through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will go towards the provision of food, clean water, farm input and healthcare services to affected families.

Speaking during a press conference in Nairobi, USAID administrator Samantha Power said the funds will be used to provide relief assistance packages to families in the arid and the semi-arid areas and to cushion farmers from losses. She said USAID has already provided at least $1.3 billion to the horn of Africa region, money it says will be used to fight hunger and drought.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that the United States will provide Kenya with an additional $255 million in humanitarian and development assistance. Of this, around $234 million will be in humanitarian assistance and emergency relief and over $20 million in development assistance, and that is investment in long-term agriculture activities and food security and adaptive programmes to help farmers withstand the very devastating effect of the current crisis,” Ms Power said.

The donations come at a time when the government is fighting a prolonged drought that has hit the arid and semi-arid parts of the country, resulting in hunger and livestock deaths.

Facing hunger

At least 4.1 million people are currently facing hunger, according to the government, with an additional 942,000 children facing malnutrition across the country. The figures are an increase from the 3.5 million people who were in March this year said to be facing hunger and another 636,000 children who were suffering from malnutrition. 

The government has largely blamed the current hunger crisis on the lack of rainfall, the two-year Covid-19 pandemic that shrunk the economy, the desert locust invasion that destroyed crops last year and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia yesterday said a lack of resources to provide relief services to the affected families had also worsen the situation.

“This intervention comes at a time when arid and semi-arid areas are facing droughts as a result of four successive failed rainy seasons. We are also trying to recover from the two years of Covid-19, coupled with the prolonged desert locust invasion and global ramification of the war in Ukraine,” Prof Kobia said.

“Consequently, the government of Kenya has scaled up its drought mitigation efforts and to date, we have spent approximately Sh12.6 billion on interventions. However, the persistent drought has left us with resources gap of more than Sh15 billion for interventions required in critical sectors of food security, health and nutrition, water, agriculture and livestock.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta had in September last year declared drought a national disaster after months of failed rains forced many families to go for days without food. According the United Nations, at least 15 million people are currently facing severe water shortages and acute food insecurity in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, a number it says could reach 20 million if these conditions persist.

Ms Power yesterday said the US had already provided $65 million towards drought response in Kenya, funds she said had reached over one million people in the arid and semi-arid lands. 

“This assistance includes food, special nutrition assistance, access to clean water and cash assistance, as well as protection for women and girls who are often the hardest hit during emergencies of this nature,” she said.

Prof Kobia said despite the challenges, Kenya has made significant progress in managing drought and associated risks. “We attribute this progress to the policy shift, which has up-scaled cash transfer programmes from 700,000 to 935,000 beneficiaries, resilience building and enhanced partnership and coordination, and strengthened early warning systems.”  By Silas Apollo, NMG