Chris Msando is the Kenyan electoral commission IT manager who oversaw the country’s computerized voting systems; now, just days before a hotly contested election, his body has been found in the Kikuyu area in Nairobi’s outskirts, and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission says he was tortured and murdered.
Previous Kenyan elections were plagued by scandals over compromised voting machines. Msando was put in charge of the voting system just months ago after his predecessor was forced out over his refusal to cooperate with independent auditors seeking to certify the election’s integrity.
This news also comes at a time when the government has denied allegations by opposition parties that it is planning to deploy the military to swing the election to its favour.
With only a week to the election, this is no doubt another testing time for Kenya and it can only emerge from this tense moment by holding credible elections and arresting and prosecuting Mr Msando’s killers.
Some fear there could be violent clashes between rival supporters after the result is announced, with the losers refusing to accept defeat.
Kenyan election IT head Chris Msando found dead
[BBC]
(via Super Punch)