Nairobi — New details have emerged on the employment history of a technology contractor arrested last week indicating the Panama-based Venezuelan has worked for Smartmatic International B.V, the firm contracted by the electoral commission to supply election technology, for over ten years.
Joel Gustavo Rodriguez was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when he, alongside his collogue Sisa Suarez, responded to a distress call from Camargo Castellanos who was detained on arrival from Panama.
His LinkedIn profile identified him as the Global Service Deployment Manager placing him at the core of Smartmatic operations, discounting reports by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that he was not an employee of the election technology provider.
Rodriguez' employment history shows that he served as Smarmatic's Global Services Warehouse and Logistic Global Manager for over four years between May 2012 to March 2017.
As the Global Services Senior Development Manager, he is tasked with managing and directing the Field Services Warehouse and Logistics and Technology Deployment of the company's business operations.
"I ensure the Global Services team functions within these established standardized global policies, processes and methodologies to ensure successful project deployments," a description of his LinkedIn profile reads.
The airport arrests elicited mixed reactions from different quarters with the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) maintaining the three were bona fide contractors.
IEBC awarded the UK-based firm incorporated in Florida US a Sh4 contract to supply and maintain the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits used as voter identification devises and relaying of electronic results form polling centres.
Following Rodriguez's arrest by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, a division within the DCI, the National Police Service said in an initial statement it had effected the arrested due to undeclared election materials.
The police subsequently said it has released the items to IEBC after it emerged they belonged to IEBC denying accusations of intimidating poll officials.
DCI later issued a statement on Sunday, July 24, saying the agency was still holding the items identified as stickers to be used for labelling KIEMS kit bags set to be deployed ahead of the August 9 General Election.
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DCI chief George Kinoti contradicted an earlier statement by the National Police Service indicating the confiscated items had been surrendered to the IEBC.
Kinoti said Sunday that their investigations had established that the Venezuelan national identified was in the country solely for personal business.
He said an individual identified as Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, CEO of Seemless Limited, had contacted him to join his office in Nairobi for work-related activities but not with the IEBC.
The DCI said one of the seventeen rolls confiscated at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was blank.
Kinoti said further investigations had established Rodriguez Garcia and Sosa Suarez had arrived in the country on July 15 on expired passports ahead of Castellanos' arrival.
Capital News however established the validity of Venezuelan passports was extended for five years in 2019 following a national crisis.
