The top leadership of the electoral commission, waiters at a
city bar and relatives of the murdered elections technology manager are among
those questioned by police as the hunt for his killers got under way on
Tuesday.
Mr Christopher Msando’s widow and a waiter are among those
questioned by detectives, seeking to piece together his last moments and find
his killers.
Until his death in the early hours of Saturday, Mr Msando
was systems development manager at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries
Commission (IEBC) and played a key role in the installation and management of
digital technology to be used in voting and tallying.
His naked body, with injuries, was discovered in a thicket
in Kikuyu on Saturday morning, taken to City Mortuary and was not identified
until Monday.
On Tuesday, the government said it will accept an offer of
help, once it is formally made, from the governments of the United States
of America and the United Kingdom for investigators to join its team.
Also, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet and his top
commanders met IEBC leadership to assess their security needs and threats they
faced in conducting the General Election on Tuesday next week.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati had called on the government
to step up the security of election officials following the murder of the ICT
manager.
“In our mind as a commission, the only issue is who killed
him and why and that is the question that must be answered. We are a few days
to the elections and we all know it’s the duty of the government to provide
security for all Kenyans and at this point in time, I demand from the
government that they provide security for all employees of IEBC for us to give
Kenyans free and fair elections,” said Mr Chebukati.
Earlier in the day, the chairman tried to allay fears that
the killers of Mr Msando may have obtained, through torture, critical passwords
to the electoral system and could use them to manipulate results.
At a campaign rally in Eldoret, President Uhuru Kenyatta
condemned the murder and called for speedy investigations to find the killers.
Sources among the investigators said they had questioned Mr
Chebukati, commission chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba and other top
officials at Anniversary Towers over the killing.
Mr Boinnet, in a statement, revealed that police had questioned
waiters at Number 7 Club on the city’s Koinange Street where Mr Msando had
drinks after leaving the office at about 10.30pm on Friday night.
Our investigations had established that Mr Msando left
Anniversary Towers at 9.30 pm for Number 7 Club, while police put the
time at 10.50 pm.
At the club, Mr Msando met a woman, identified as
21-year-old Carol Ngumbu, whose body was also found in the bush,
metres away from where Msando’s lay in Muguga, Kiambu County.
At 2.30am, investigators established, he was in the company
of a woman, who is not Ms Ngumbu. It was said that the woman, who was wearing a
red top, was one of the suppliers to IEBC.
Minutes before 3am, the woman was photographed in Mr
Msando’s car on Bunyala Road.
The police also questioned Mr Msando’s widow. She reported
on Sunday that her husband had gone missing.
Investigators wanted to know why she had taken long to
report, and she answered that it was common for him not to return home on
weekends.
In his statement, Mr Boinnet said Msando left his
Anniversary Towers office at 10.50pm on Friday and was spotted in the company
of two other persons (a male and a female) at Number 7 Club on Koinange street.
His car was captured by integrated communication command and
control centre (IC3) cameras at Uhuru highway-Haile Selassie Avenue round-about
at 2.24am.
The statement said the vehicle was again captured a minute
later at Bunyala road-Uhuru Highway round-about, heading towards Mombasa Road.
In both instances, according to the IG, it had two occupants
(a male and female) in the front seats.
At 2.34am, the same car was captured on Mombasa road towards
Nyayo stadium but this time there was only one male occupant in the driver’s
seat heading towards the city centre.
At 2.47am, the car was captured on Ring Road Ngara/ Juja
Road intersection moving towards Thika road.
The police investigations also established that on Sunday,
at 12.30am, the car was found abandoned behind Thika Road Mall (TRM).
A day later, the investigators got information that two
unknown bodies (male and female) were lying at City Mortuary. On inquiry, it
was established that on Saturday at about 8.30am, the bodies were found by
residents of Kerwa location, Kikuyu sub county.
The area chief was informed and he informed the Kikuyu
Police Station.
Police took the bodies to the City Mortuary at 11.50am the
same day. Relatives of the deceased identified the bodies on Monday.
A waiter at Number 7 Club confirmed that Mr Msando met
Ms Ngumbu and another man there The waiter said the man left, leaving behind
the two, who left the club at about 1am.
A water vendor in Roysambu, near where the car was found,
said the vehicle had been parked near the same building about two weeks ago. He
remembered this incident because the car blocked the loading point for his
water tanker.
The statement also notes that Mr Msando had on December
22, last year, report at Central Police Station that some unknown persons using
three cellphone numbers sent him abusive and threatening messages two months
previously.
He was referred to the DCIO, Central, but declined to record
a statement, saying he would do so later. He never followed up the matter with
the DCIO.
In Roysambu, a woman living in one of the houses near
TRM was questioned by police.
A neighbour told the Nation that the woman, on
more than one occasion, attracted the attention of other residents after she
returned home late and threw out the house help.
Police sources claimed that when Mr Msando complained to
police that his life was in danger, he allegedly told them that those who
threatened him were uncomfortable with his relationships.
The same sources claimed that those interviewed by the
police said the “noisy woman” was either a second wife or girlfriend. She was,
however, not identified.
Mr Msando’s disappearance was made public by Mr Chebukati in
a press statement on Sunday morning, moments after his wife, Elsa Auma,
reported to the Embakasi Police Station.
Mr Msando had acted as the ICT director after Mr James
Muhati was sent on a 30-day compulsory leave on May 27 after failing to
co-operate with the audit department.
At the IEBC on Tuesday, staff in a sombre mood were in last
minute preparations for the simulation of the results transmission system set
for Wednesday.
