DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua during a presser flanked by Nyandarua Senator John Methu in Nairobi on August 26, 2026
Key opposition chiefs have differed on the technology firm that the electoral commission should engage to supply critical poll technology even as they jointly lay siege on IEBC.
DCP Party leader Rigathi Gachagua has broken ranks with the rest of the opposition and is demanding that IEBC retain a controversial Venezuelan firm, accused by the late Raila Odinga of allegedly rigging the 2022 polls.
Just months ago, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, his DP counterpart Justin Muturi and Eugene Wamalwa of DAP-K demanded that the IEBC completely sever ties with Smartmatic, the Venezuelan firm it contracted in 2022.
Gachagua now alleges IEBC is on the verge of awarding the lucrative contract to Miru Systems Co Ltd, a South Korean firm which he alleges is already compromised by President William Ruto.
“The tender process and result has already been preconceived and is awaiting rubber stumping to Miru System Co. Ltd of South Korea,” Gachagua alleged on Wednesday.
Ruto allies responded first.
Senate Majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot hit back at Gachagua, accusing him of attacking independent institutions because of his diminishing political fortunes.
He dismissed Gachagua’s criticism of the IEBC as a political ruse driven by fear of facing Ruto in 2027, saying: “They are running scared.”
“IEBC does not take instructions from anybody or any quarter,” Cheruiyot said, adding that Parliament had passed laws intended to strengthen transparency, fairness and the integrity of the electoral process.
Interestingly, the tender for the supply of Integrated Elections Management System (IEMS) is set to close next week on Tuesday.
The tech procurement is one of the most consequential for IEBC as it would be used for biometric voter identification and results transmission.
Kalonzo who was part of Raila’s 2022 campaign insists the credibility of the 2027 elections would be at stake if Smartmatic technology and gadgets are retained.
"IEBC must completely sever all ties with Smartmatic, a globally discredited company. Any continued engagement signals a compromised election,” Kalonzo noted.
At the Supreme Court, Raila alleged that one Jose Camargo, a Venezuelan national, had access to IEBC election systems and manipulated presidential results in favour of Ruto.
The Supreme Court rubbished the claims as “hot air”
The fresh push and pull by influential leaders is likely to hit IEBC's credibility with less than a year to the polls.
Contradictory positions even by players in the same team give IEBC tough choices.
On Wednesday, Gachagua said replacing the existing system could create greater risks than retaining it.
Gachagua said Smartmatic already holds the voter data, has experience running elections in the country and would therefore eliminate the need for a potentially rushed migration to a new system.
“I want to recommend that the current system of Smartmatic be retained because they have the data, the experience and we have seen them do elections,” Gachagua said.
“I saw them in Ol Kalou, and the system was quite okay. I don’t think we have a problem with Smartmatic.”
This position puts him at odds with other principals within the United Opposition.
The former DP says the IEBC has only about 11 months before the election and that introducing a new system would require migration of voter data, testing and interrogation of the new technology at a time when the tender itself has not even been concluded.
“IEBC officials who have come to me have said it is not possible within the remaining period, 11 months, to have a new system”.
“When do you do digital migration? Even now the tender has not been awarded. By the time it is awarded, they come, do digital migration, the elections are already here. There is no time to interrogate.”
According to the IEBC election roadmap, the commission has a narrow window to introduce and validate a new system before the election.
The Election Operations Plan schedules testing and verification of election technology for June 5–9, 2027, just two months before August.
This means a new supplier would have to complete procurement, delivery, installation, integration and migration of electoral data before the June testing deadline.
Center for Multiparty Democracy executive director Franklin Mukwanja said transparency in the procurement process is key to avoid mistrust.
"IEBC should offer meaningful, adequate and timely information to all the election stakeholders", Mukwanja said.
Gachagua said the procurement has already come under challenge at the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board from the competitors, who argue the tender documents were tailored to favour the South Korean firm.
“The tender document specifics were tailor-made in a way that nobody else can win it other than this South Korean firm. I am told even the competitors have gone to the Procurement Appeals Tribunal to say no, you can’t do specs that are tailor-made for a company,” he said.
He challenged journalists to compare the IEBC tender specifications with Miru’s existing technology, claiming they would find requirements matching “word to word, sentence by sentence, requirement by requirement”.
“It is a fraud,” he said.
Gachagua further challenged the IEBC to publish the documents behind the technical specifications, including internal committee minutes, market surveys and approval records and to demonstrate that the tender is vendor-neutral.
Gachagua did not provide documentary evidence to prove the claims.
He went on to say that onboarding Miru Systems would provide an opportunity for rigging.
“Why do we have to migrate data from a company that is already in the country and give it to a new entrant? What is the gain?” he asked.
“That’s where the mischief is. They want to interfere with the voters register, especially in areas where President William Ruto has been rejected.”
He said migration of data from the Smartmatic KIEMS system to Miru technology could be used to interfere with the voter register and suppress voters in areas perceived to oppose the government.
Cheruiyot said even if Gachagua were to run the electoral agency with his preferred chairperson and commissioners, and have election servers “etched inside private chambers of Wamunyoro”, he would still lose the election.
“The impeached Deputy President has formed a terrible habit of bastardising, demonising and debasing independent constitutional institutions because of his floundering political fortunes,” Cheruiyot said.
Attempts to reach IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon and Commissioner Anne Nderitu were unsuccessful as they did not respond to calls.
The agency's communication team asked the Star to send an email, to which they hadn't responded by the time of going to press.
Miru, according to documents seen by the Star, has worked in Zambia (2025) where it provided mobile voter registration. It also provided Ethiopia’s high speed printer for election papers and materials with UV Ink, QR code and Special Micro-Character Security.
Miru also provided 110,000 Automated Count Machines, ballot boxes, 70 million ballot papers , rechargeable external batteries, Election Management Systems during the 2025 Philippines’ national and local elections.
Between 2018 – 23, the same company was contracted in Congo where it supplied 105,257 ballot marking devices in the 2018 elections and 29,500 voter registration devices in 2022. In Congo’s 2023 elections, Miru provided 26,250 additional voting devices, ballots and consumables. The company has also engaged in Kyrgyzstan elections between 2015-23 and Iraq (2017 - 2025)
But Gachagua used this record, citing its work in the DRC, the Philippines and Iraq.
He alleged that it delivered biometric voter registration kits six months late for the 2018 DRC elections and that equipment malfunctioned at up to 45 per cent of polling stations during the 2023 vote.
He also cited reports of illegible voter cards and voters being removed from the register.
In the Philippines, Gachagua said Miru technology encountered “fatal flaws” during 2024 mock elections. In Iraq, he said machines malfunctioned at between 70 and 75 per cent of polling stations during the October 2024 Kurdistan parliamentary elections. These failures, he said, triggered questions over the credibility of the system and allegations of hacking or manipulation that led to a manual recount.
This means a new supplier would have to complete procurement, delivery, installation, integration and migration of electoral data before the June testing deadline.
