Kenya election official found murdered

TOM ODULA

NAIROBI, Kenya — An official crucial to running Kenya’s presidential election next week has been found tortured and killed, the electoral commission chairman said Monday, as concerns grew that the East African nation’s vote again would face dangerous unrest.

Wafula Chebukati helped identify the body of Christopher Msando at the city morgue and said he had injuries to the neck and head. Mssando had been reported missing a few days ago.

“This is a brutal murder of our employee and we are demanding to know who killed him and why,” Chebukati said. “We are demanding government provide security to all IEBC (electoral commission) staff.”

Msando had been in charge of managing information technology systems at the electoral commission. Kenya will be using biometric technology to identify voters and electronic transmission of results, which reduces the chances of fraud.

Msando had publicly sought to reassure voters that the election results would not be tampered with. Chebukati said they have postponed a test run of the technology scheduled for Monday because Msando was crucial in the process.

The opposition has charged that President Uhuru Kenyatta wants to rig the elections, an accusation the presidency has denied.

Msando was found dead a day after police killed an intruder at Deputy President William Ruto’s home after an 18-hour siege. Police said the intruder had attacked a guard at the gate with a machete and taken his gun, which he used to kill another police guard.

Analysts have warned that further violence could accompany the hotly contested Aug. 8 vote in which Kenyatta is running.

The stakes are high for the candidates this time, said Murithi Mutiga, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“Kenyatta, a scion of one of the most prominent political families in the country, does not want to make history as the first Kenyan president not to achieve re-election. His rival, Raila Odinga, son of Kenya’s first vice-president, is probably making his last serious attempt at capturing the presidency,” Mutiga said. “None of them can afford to lose.”

Another concern is the alShabab extremist group based in neighbouring Somalia. The group recently threatened to disrupt Kenya’s election and has carried out more than 100 attacks inside the country since 2011.