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Kenya’s brutal elections! In the run-up to tense national presidential elections, head of electronic voting body, Chris Musando, found dead – tortured, arm chopped off just days to national poll

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Kenyan election official is found dead apparently tortured, arm chopped off just days to national poll
ICT manager Christopher Chege Musando was charged with eliminating voter fraud from Kenya’s electoral process
Musando’s mutilated body was found Saturday dumped in a forest on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi
He’d been severely tortured, it took police 48 hours to establish his identity
Kenya is in the run-up to a tense national presidential election
‘There was no doubt he[Musando]  was tortured and murdered.’  – Head of electoral, IEBC chairperson, Wafula Chebukati 
‘That no effort was made to camouflage this killing as an accident shows the determination of the killers to send a chilling message that they will stop at nothing to ensure the outcome they desire’  –  opposition alliance NASA
Musando was in charge of a system of electronic voter identification and vote counting, considered crucial to deter vote rigging
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has demanded a government explanation for Chris Musando’s murder

Chris Musando, an IT manager for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, was found dead on Saturday in a forest outside Nairobi.
His body was found alongside that of an unidentified woman. Both of them were naked and appeared to have been tortured.

It is unclear why it took Kenyan Police 48 hours to formally identify the body at the City Mortuary.
Police sources told the Kenyan Star that one of Musando’s arms had been cut off.
His body was further reported to have had visible injuries on his back, belly, and left side of his head.
IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati has demanded a government explanation for ICT manager Chris Musando’s murder

 IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati 2.jpg A somber IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati [center] with commissioners Roselyne Akombe [left], Margaret Mwachanya (partly hidden), Abdi Guliye [second right], Consolata Nkatha [right] and Boya Molu at the City Morgue where the body of acting ICT director Chris Musando was found on July 31, 2017
President Uhuru Kenyatta.pngPresident Uhuru Kenyatta during the live Facebook session on Sunday evening seeking a fresh mandate. Opposition leaders have accused him of complicity in uncertainties regarding the intergrity of the electoral process

Musando was last seen at 10pm on Friday evening. A security camera recorded his grey Land Rover Discovery on Mombasa Road in the south east of the capital.
The body was discovered on Saturday but it took Kenyan Police 48 hours to formally identify it
Odinga’s opposition alliance NASA condemned the ‘heinous murder’ of Msando, saying in a statement they were ‘gravely concerned’ about its implications.
‘That no effort was made to camouflage this killing as an accident shows the determination of the killers to send a chilling message that they will stop at nothing to ensure the outcome they desire,’ read the statement.
The body was found in Kikuyu and taken to the City Mortuary on Saturday. His family members identified it.
Musando was in charge of a system of electronic voter identification and vote counting seen as crucial to avoid rigging, and was the second in command in the commission’s IT department. The Star quotes Wafula on Monday: “The government must tell Kenyans who killed Musando and why,” the chairman said. “…there is no doubt that Musando was tortured and then murdered…who killed him and why did they kill him? That question must be answered.”
In an address to journalists at the morgue Chebukati further demanded the Kenyan government provide security for all  officials of the electoral body before the election next Tuesday.

NASA leader Raila Odinga with Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula..pngNASA opposition leader Raila Odinga [center] seen here with Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula – has blamed the government in the death of Chris Musonda

Musando He had recently appeared on television, explaining the voting system and assuring viewers that the polls would be successful.
All eyes are on this electronic system ahead of August 8 polls after its crash in 2013 led the opposition to accuse the election commission of rigging the election.
Tensions have risen in Kenya ahead of the presidential election, which has been a bad-tempered and tight race between President Uhuru Kenyatta and longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.
While 2013 polls were largely peaceful, Kenya remains traumatized by a disputed 2007 election, which Odinga claimed was rigged.

Police said the mutilated body of the IEBC deputy ICT director and that of an unidentified female in Kikuyu, Kiambu County and taken to the Nairobi City Mortuary on Sunday.
Earlier on Monday,  police had ruled out foul play after his vehicle was found parked in Roysambu, Nairobi.
According to police, a security guard allegedly saw Musando park his vehicle at Roysambu on Friday at about 11pm and go off alone before walking into one of the apartments in the area.
The security guard told police he could not identify which house he went into after parking his car.
His colleagues last saw him around 10 pm, Friday at Anniversary Towers, the electoral agency’s headquarters, where he heads the ICT systems and data centre support.
“The last communication from him is an SMS text sent to one of his colleagues at around 3:00 am on Saturday morning. The content of the SMS suggests that he was conscious and fully aware of his itinerary  for that day,” according to a police statement.

Christopher Chege Musando was in charge of overseeing Kenya’s computerized voting system ahead of a crucial presidential vote on August 8.
His apparent abduction and murder takes on greater significance in an already tense political climate where two months of ethnic clashes and a crackdown on protests left 1,100 dead in east Africa’s richest economy.

The ICT manager’s death is coming on the heels of a reported mysterious attack at the home of deputy president William Ruto on Saturday in Eldoret northwest of Nairobi.

 

 

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