Bring it On, Safaricom Tells Raila on Prosecution Threats

Kenya’s giant telecommunication firm Safaricom has refuted claims by National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga that it was involved in manipulation of August 8th election.

Safaricom dared NASA to make true its threat to pursue prosecution on its employees involved in the alleged electoral fraud, saying it was ready for any probe.

Contrary to Raila's statement, the Mobile service provider said results from Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits in its assigned zones were transmitted and are available on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission web portal.

In a statement, Safaricom chief executive officer Bob Collymore, said firm was not informed by the IEBC of the claimed stolen KIEMS kits which Raila Odinga alleged were used to relay election results to tilt the election in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Collymore defended Safaricom, saying it fulfilled its mandate in accordance with its contract to provide a secure virtual network and technical support.

“Contrary to what is alleged in the Nasa statement, results from Kiems kits from Safaricom zones were transmitted and are on the IEBC web portal,” he said and explained that the responsibility of transmitting the results from the IEBC servers to the constituency and national tallying centres was the preserve of the commission and the political players, among them NASA, were aware.

“Safaricom is ready to face any investigations and/or private prosecutions brought by any party on this matter,” he said.

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, National Super Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga instructed opposition lawyers to institute private prosecutions against six Safaricom officials, who said conspired to subvert the August 8th presidential election.

“Safaricom allowed this illegality to go on and did not even care to report the various illegal activities of these Kiems kits," Raila Said.

"This collusion between Safaricom, IEBC and Safran remains intact and the firm is set to do the same thing it did in August,” he said.

Collymore dismissed the claims by the former Prime Minister, terming them callous.

“This action is callous and unnecessary,” the CEO said adding that the company is ready to be investigated or prosecuted.