Venezuelans' fate unknown as DCI, IEBC bury the hatchet

The three Venezuelans were said to have been initially held by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit. [File, Standard]

The fate of three Venezuelans who entered the county with electoral stickers remains unknown even as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the National Police Service (NPS) announced that the matter has been resolved.

Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati did not divulge any information on the whereabouts of Jose Gregario Camargo Castellanos, Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez and Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia.

Mutyambai and Chebukati declined to field questions as they maintained that IEBC and NPS are working together to ensure free, fair and credible general election.

“We have held a successful consultative meeting between NPS and IEBC where I have briefed the chairman and commissioners, including senior staff of IEBC, on our security preparedness. We have also resolved all the issues revolving around the electoral sticker imported into the country recently,” said Mutyambai.

Chebukati said NPS will deploy 150,000 police officers who will be stationed in all the 46,229 polling stations, 290 constituency tallying centres, 47 county tallying centres and the national tallying centre to ensure that the elections go on smoothly.

The IEBC chairman raised concern that some people were moving around the country buying national identity cards from voters with an intention of denying them an opportunity to participate in the polls.

Chebukati also maintained that the matter around the stickers was now water under the bridge, only confirming that they have held a successful meeting on the partnership of NPS and IEBC towards a successful election.

The IEBC and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have in the recent past engaged in a war of words over the way the election stickers were delivered to the country, with the poll agency defending the Venezuelans while the DCI raised concern over the way they conducted themselves.

The three Venezuelans were said to have been initially held by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit where they were not required to record any statements while senior security officers remained silent on the whereabouts of the foreigners.