Mobile phone service provider, Safaricom agreed to participate in the Makueni by-election on condition a senior official of the electoral body is excluded from the results transmission system, The Standard On Sunday can reveal.
Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore
Safaricom had pulled out of the mini-poll three weeks ago arguing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC) could not adequately fund, train staff and test the results transmission system.
However, the company had a change of heart following a meeting between Safaricom boss Bob Collymore and IEBC Chairman Isaack Hassan last week.
In that meeting Mr Collymore allegedly demanded the exclusion of IEBC’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) director Dismas Ongondi from the results transmission project, according to our investigations.
At the same time, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) a US-based organsiation, protested what it termed Safaricom’s “ever-expanding role” in the elections project.
Serious Concerns
In an email to some of the commissioners, IFES Country Director Michael Yard complained last week that Safaricom would “compromise” the security of the RTS.
“IFES has some serious concerns about the ever-expanding role of Safaricom and we need to resolve these before the security of the system is compromised, if it is not already too late to avoid this risk,” he wrote.
He, however, declined to expound on what risks Safaricom’s involvement posed. “My issues have been resolved,” he wrote in a short text message to this reporter.
The Washington-based, non-profit organisation funded by USAid, largely financed the results transmission system for the March 4 General Election.
Safaricom’s condition to IEBC is contained in email exchanges between the Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer James Oswago and a number of staff and which The Standard On Sunday has seen.
“Two Commissioners and the Chairman went to meet the CEO of Safaricom to persuade him to rescind their decision not to participate in this process. Anyway, after some discussion Safaricom agreed to resume on condition you did not take part,” wrote Mr Oswago to Mr Ongondi.
‘No Comment’
When contacted last week over the matter, Mr Hassan said: “No comment.”
It is not clear why Safaricom did not want Mr Ongondi to participate in the project given that this is his area of professional specialisation. Safaricom’s head of Corporate Communications Ann Nderi said the company also had no comment on the matter. “Safaricom cannot comment on this issue,” she wrote in a short text message to this reporter.
However, Mr Ongondi seems to suggest in his reply that he was locked out of the project on Mr Oswago’s instructions:
“Late Friday (July 12) afternoon, towards the end of our discussions of the implications of Safaricom’s withdrawal of support to the Commission in theMakueni senate by-election, you directed DCS-S not to involve the Director ICT in any discussions withSafaricom on this issue. You subsequently called a meeting with the Safaricom Head of Special Projects, Shaka Kwach, later that evening and expressly asked me not to attend,” he wrote.
When contacted, Mr Ongondi said he had not been formally informed about Safaricom’s concerns and even implied that he was not aware of the email exchanges.
“I am in charge of all matters to do with technology in the Commission, and everyone — including our service providers — work with me. I cannot say anything more than that,” he said on Friday.
Mr Ongondi was directly in charge of the failed results transmission system for the March 4 General Election which, among other issues, is subject of ongoing investigations by Anti-Corruption Commission.
In his emails, Mr Oswago said he was not part of the team that went to negotiate for Safaricom’s return, and indicates that he advised Mr Hassan against approaching the company.
“I had known the meeting would take place and the Chairman had asked me to accompany him. I advised against my being there because I felt there were certain matters or details which the chairman needed to candidly communicate to the CEO Safcom.”
According to him, two other commissioners accompanied Mr Hassan to the meeting although he says that he had encouraged the chairman to make the visit alone, if he had to.
“I even advised against any commissioner being present but this was too late as one of the two commissioners had already proceeded to Safcom headquarters”.
Sneak View
Mr Oswago did not pick our calls to his mobile phone and did not reply our text messages for comment and clarification.
Nonetheless, the exchanges also offer an interesting sneak view in to the long-rumoured difficult working relationship between Mr Oswago and Mr Hassan.
“I have not met or spoken to the CEO for months, neither did I discuss this particular issue with anyone else. They had their reasons, I had mine,” wrote Mr Oswago to Mr Ongondi.
The two officials have sought to rubbish the perceived differences between them by putting on a united front in public, be it when facing the media or even when appearing before parliamentary committees.
However in 2011, Mr Oswago’s personal assistant was found to be the source of unsavoury newspaper articles that portaryed Mr Hassan as incompetent and biased towards certain political parties.
By KIPCHUMBA SOME, The Standard
