IEBC sued over 'secret deal' with Smartmatic
National
By
Kamau Muthoni
| Feb 25, 2026
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been sued over the alleged extension of a contract with Smartmatic International Holdings B.V to maintain Kenya’s election system and run next year's General Election.
Although the IEBC chair, Erastus Ethekon, indicated they had not procured 2027 technology, lawyer Gilbert Njoroge, in his case before the High Court, claims that the commission had quietly contracted the Venezuelan firm.
Njoroge alleged that Smartmatic had been hired to deliver, install, test, commission, support, and maintain the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS), including during by-elections and the 2027 General Election.
In a dispute that is likely to take a political twist, the lawyer roped in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the United Democratic Alliance, the Wiper Patriotic Front, Narc Kenya, the Jubilee Party, and the Kenya African National Union (KANU) as interested parties.
He said that owing to the unanswered election shadows that have continued to follow the company in different countries, including the United States of America (USA) and the Philippines, the alleged contract ought to be cancelled.
“ Smartmatic's president and co-founder, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, and two executives of the company have been charged in the United States with funnelling USD 1 million in bribes to a former Chairman of the Philippine Commission on Elections to secure the election technology management contract,” claimed Njoroge.
According to him, the commission extended the contract in November 2025. He said that this was allegedly done in an unclear and opaque process. “ The contract has not been published on the respondent’s website for ease of access to the public,” he argued, adding that the 2022 server issues remain a mystery as the company allegedly declined to open the same when it was ordered by the Supreme Court.
“Smartmatic barricaded itself behind the claim that disclosure of source codes and other encryption keys, among others, would infringe on its intellectual property rights,” he added.
He stated that the commission allegedly relied on the same system to register voters. Njoroge was of the view that the exercise ought to be open, accessible and up-to-date to ensure citizens, political parties and all concerned stakeholders can audit the register to determine if consent to be registered as a voter was obtained legally.
“The respondent has failed to publish the Register of Voters on a public website as mandated by the law, in respect to the electoral units of Isiolo South Constituency, County Assembly for Muminji Ward, Evurore Ward and West Kabras Ward in preparation for the by-elections scheduled for February 26, 2026,” he stated.
Njoroge wants the court to bar the commission from conducting the remaining by-elections.
At the same time, he wants the court to bar the commission from utilizing or using any technology provided by the company.
He also wants the court to suspend the contract for testing, commissioning and maintaining KIEM kits.
“Electoral technology must be beyond suspicion, to avert any discord that may lead to civil unrest and election-related violence. That there is a need for the Respondent, in carrying out its Constitutional mandate, to entrench and practice the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency and accountability as the guiding light; as such, the full and unfettered audit of the registration, voting, transmission, counting, and results publishing systems,” he said.