Wiper Party leader Kalonzo has criticised the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and its CEO, Hussein Marjan after the handling of the contract with Smartmatic, the company that supplied the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits for the 2022 general election.

Kalonzo Musyoka spoke at the funeral of the late Mzee Jonathan Kiilu Ng’ata in Kyuluni Village, Kathiani Constituency, Machakos County on Saturday, 10 January 2026.

“We agreed that the CEO of IEBC anaitwa Marjan. When there was no commission, he moved with a lot of speed akaleta watu wanaitwa Smartmatic, akarenew contract yao. Wale watu waliibia Raila kura,” Kalonzo said.

“Wakasign kila kitu macommissioner wakija. Ndio ile tume mpya hawajui wakapata kwamba he has already renewed those contracts. An illegal thing, because we are not supposed to do it. Pamoja na aliyekuwa anaitwa…ni advisor wa Ruto saa hii State House…”

“So we are saying Marjan cannot. Hawezi kusimamia uchaguzi ujao, as CEO. Kwa sababu atakuwa amebakisha sijui one year up to next year. So the best thing hii commission imuunde apatiwe whatever balance yake atoke because he is the problem.”

Smartmatic contract sparks debate

The Smartmatic contract extension has reignited debate ahead of the 2027 elections. Opposition leaders, including Eugene Wamalwa, have called for the deal to be cancelled. They accuse IEBC of renewing it without proper oversight and link it to past claims of irregularities in the 2022 presidential election.

The controversy is further complicated by claims from former Venezuelan military intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal Barrios. In December 2025, Carvajal wrote a letter to US President Donald Trump while in US custody, where he faces narco-terrorism charges.

The letter was published by US outlet The Dallas Express, which stated that it had not independently verified all the claims. He claimed that Smartmatic served as a tool for the Venezuelan regime under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro to retain power, claiming the system could be altered.

“Smartmatic was born as an electoral tool of the Venezuelan regime but soon derived into a tool to help keep the regime stay in power forever… The Smartmatic system can be altered—this is a fact. This technology was later exported abroad,” he stated.

Smartmatic has denied these claims. The company says it stopped operating in Venezuela in 2017, follows strict international standards, and operates independently. It is registered in the Netherlands and headquartered in the UK, though its founders are Venezuelan. Smartmatic has also filed lawsuits in the US over similar claims related to the 2020 election, with some cases settled or dismissed.

In Kenya, Smartmatic won the contract through a public tender in November 2021. The IEBC maintains the technology met legal requirements and delivered results efficiently in 2022. However, public trust in the commission remains low after the 2022 election faced Supreme Court challenges.

Senior Counsel Paul Muite recently questioned IEBC’s choice of Smartmatic due to its Venezuelan links and called for lifestyle audits of current and former commissioners. In July 2022, authorities arrested three Venezuelan nationals linked to Smartmatic at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with undeclared election materials, though police later released them without charges.