Why A Multibillion Smartmatic Poll System Contract Has Been Linked To Firing Of IEBC CEO Marjan

The dramatic exit of Hussein Marjan as Chief Executive of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has been spectacularly linked to a multibillion shilling contract with scandal-tainted Venezuelan technology firm Smartmatic that was extended under murky circumstances when the commission had no leadership.

Sources privy to the unfolding drama at Anniversary Towers have revealed that the illegal extension of the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System contract in November 2024, at a time when IEBC had no commissioners to approve such a critical procurement, became the smoking gun that triggered intense pressure on Marjan from both opposition politicians and the newly constituted commission led by Chairman Erastus Ethekon.

The decision to extend the Smartmatic deal has now emerged as the central scandal that precipitated what many insiders describe as a carefully orchestrated removal of the electoral boss, who had served since March 2022 but found himself increasingly isolated as the weight of procurement irregularities mounted against him.

At the heart of the controversy lies a damning memorandum that the united opposition delivered to IEBC commissioners on January 28, exactly one week before Marjan’s forced exit. The document, which has been seen by The Star, exposes what opposition figures term a calculated subversion of procurement law that could have cost taxpayers billions of shillings while compromising the integrity of the 2027 General Election.

The opposition memo reveals that the framework contract for the supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of KIEMS kits, which started on November 25, 2021, was extended beyond its lawful three-year limit in November 2024. Under Kenya’s Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, framework contracts cannot exceed three years and are legally incapable of extension beyond this statutory ceiling.

What makes this extension particularly explosive is that it occurred during a critical period when IEBC had no commissioners following the departure of the previous commission led by the late Wafula Chebukati. The commission would remain without leadership until July 11, 2025, when Dr Ethekon and six other commissioners were finally sworn into office.

The procurement law is unambiguous on such matters. Strategic procurements, particularly those involving electoral technology that goes to the heart of Kenya’s constitutional democracy and national stability, must be sanctioned by the commission sitting in plenary session. The quorum for such decisions requires at least half of existing commissioners, with a minimum of three members present.

Yet at the time this contract was extended, there were no commissioners in office to approve the procurement. Only Marjan and his secretariat were running operations at the commission, raising serious questions about who had the authority to sanction such a critical decision and whether the CEO overstepped his mandate.

Opposition leaders, including Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Martha Karua, Eugene Wamalwa, Fred Matiang’i and Lenny Kivutu, have been unrelenting in their demands for accountability. During their meeting with the IEBC commissioners, they laid out a devastating case against Marjan’s stewardship.

The memorandum noted that the procurement law requires any contract variation or extension to be justified by the vendor, reviewed by the Contract Implementation Team or a duly constituted evaluation committee, and reported quarterly to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority through the Public Procurement Information Portal.

According to the opposition dossier, these critical safeguards appear to have been deliberately bypassed. There are serious indications that the extension was not reported to PPRA as required, was undertaken without mandatory vendor justification, and may have been backdated to serve undisclosed interests. The extension was allegedly approved unilaterally without the involvement of the Contract Implementation Team, in clear violation of procurement law and procedure.

The opposition has demanded that the seven IEBC commissioners act with urgency to investigate the matter, take appropriate legal and administrative action, and publicly account for how such a strategically critical procurement escaped their constitutional oversight responsibilities. They have called for all implicated officers to step aside immediately and for any public funds lost through these irregularities to be fully recovered.

The Smartmatic shadow looming over this scandal has made the controversy even more toxic. The Venezuelan firm has been dogged by serious credibility issues globally, including recent criminal charges in the United States.

In October 2025, the US Department of Justice charged Smartmatic with money laundering and other crimes arising from over one million dollars in bribes that company executives allegedly paid to election officials in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018. Three Smartmatic executives, including co-founder Roger Pinate, were indicted for allegedly paying bribes to secure contracts worth over 180 million dollars for the 2016 Philippine presidential election.

US prosecutors claim the executives created a slush fund by overcharging per voting machine and used coded language, fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to conceal corrupt payments routed through bank accounts in Asia, Europe and the United States.

The company has also been linked to controversial elections in Venezuela under the regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, with allegations that its systems could be manipulated to rig results. In 2017, Smartmatic itself accused President Maduro’s government of manipulating tallied results in elections for a constituent assembly, prompting the company to exit Venezuela.

Opposition leaders in Kenya have seized on this troubled history to question why IEBC would extend a contract with such a vendor. They argue that the failure of Smartmatic to deliver comprehensive technical knowledge transfer to IEBC staff on Biometric Voter Registration, Electronic Voter Identification and Results Transmission Systems constituted a material breach of contract, yet no enforcement action was taken. Instead, the vendor was allegedly rewarded with an unlawful contract extension.

The opposition memo also highlights technical deficiencies in the current system, noting that it exhibits weaker biometric data capture capabilities compared to the previous solution, relies on an inefficient iris capture methodology that requires absolute stillness, and operates on offline-only data capture, creating risks of duplication, double registration and compromised data integrity.

Senior Counsel Paul Muite has publicly questioned IEBC’s decision to work with a company rooted in Venezuela, a country with zero democratic credentials, calling for lifestyle audits of both past and current IEBC commissioners to ensure they acted properly when awarding and extending contracts to the firm.

DAP-Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa has been particularly vocal, declaring that the opposition will move to court to challenge the legality of the contract extension. He has demanded that the Smartmatic contract be terminated immediately and that the company should return to Venezuela.

For Marjan, the pressure became unbearable. Sources at Anniversary Towers reveal that the CEO faced intense scrutiny in meetings held both with and without his presence. Central to these deliberations were procurement issues and public trust ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Upon learning of his impending dismissal, Marjan reportedly approached Chairman Ethekon seeking a negotiated exit. He requested written confirmation that his departure would be by mutual consent, which the chairman granted. However, once he received the letter, Marjan engaged legal counsel and responded with several demands, including full payment through the end of his contract in March 2027 and compensation for unused leave.

His counter-proposal prompted an emergency meeting of five commissioners on Monday, February 3, with deliberations minuted and used as formal basis for terminating his contract. The move brought an abrupt end to Marjan’s tenure with 399 days remaining on his five-year term that was set to conclude on March 9, 2027.

In a statement released on Tuesday, February 3, IEBC announced Marjan’s formal exit after reaching an agreement to terminate his services by mutual consent. The commission said it would embark on critical reforms within the Secretariat and assured Kenyans that changes were designed to ensure effective institutional preparedness, strengthen internal accountability and results-oriented systems, and maintain leadership continuity.

The commission emphasized that the Secretariat remains central to delivering credible elections and that the restructuring is intended to enhance performance rather than disrupt operations. An interim replacement will be named to ensure continuity while the recruitment process for a substantive CEO and Commission Secretary commences.

However, the opposition is not done. Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru has hinted that legal action will be pursued against Marjan for executing functions not designated to him. He has called for Marjan to be surcharged for decisions made before the commission was fully reconstituted and has urged the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct the Inspector General to commence investigations.

The opposition has also formed a technical committee of election, procurement and governance experts to push for reforms. They have demanded that IEBC publicly disclose how it will announce and fill the CEO position, the quality and caliber of the preferred candidate, and the timeline for this critical appointment.

The united opposition has further called for investigative agencies to expand the scope of inquiry to establish whether similar procurement breaches may have occurred in the printing of ballot papers contract that was awarded to Greek firm Inform Lykos in the 2022 general election.

As the dust settles on Marjan’s dramatic exit, questions remain about the full extent of procurement irregularities during the period when IEBC operated without commissioners. The Smartmatic contract extension appears to have been the most visible manifestation of a deeper governance crisis that the new commission must now address with urgency.

The stakes could not be higher. With the 2027 General Election on the horizon, public confidence in IEBC’s ability to deliver credible, free and fair elections hangs in the balance. The handling of the Smartmatic contract saga and the accountability measures taken against those responsible will be a critical test of whether the reconstituted commission can restore trust in Kenya’s electoral process.

For now, the multibillion shilling Smartmatic deal remains at the center of a political and legal storm that has already claimed one high-profile casualty and threatens to expose more irregularities as investigations deepen into procurement decisions made during one of the most controversial periods in IEBC’s history.