Venezuelan Jose Carmago accused of “electing” president for Kenyans

Lawyers Julie Soweto and Paul Mwangi tabled damning evidence at the Supreme Court of Kenya showing that a Venezuelan national uploaded Forms 34A on the IEBC public portal.

Lawyers Julie Soweto and Paul Mwangi tabled damning evidence at the Supreme Court of Kenya showing that a Venezuelan national uploaded Forms 34A on the IEBC public portal. Speaking on the final day of the Presidential Petition hearings filed by Azimio La Umoja candidate and others, the Lawyers said Jose Camargo “determined the final results of the presidential results.”

The lawyers took the seven-judge bench through the IEBC portal showing a form 34 A from Gacharaigu Primary School polling station in Kangema Constituency that had the Venezuelan’s name on the top left corner. “My Lords, you can see we are not making up the hacking story, you can see for yourselves and we are saying this is the person who determined the final outcome of the presidential election,” Said Soweto who tried to prove “massive interference” with calculations that did not match the votes cast, registered voters and those allocated to each presidential candidate.

IEBC lawyer Mahat Somane however countered the claims and said Jose Camargo’s name which appeared on the form 34A was an overlay-meaning the image of the form 34A uploaded on the IEBC portal was taken on top of another document bearing Camargo’s name. However the damage appears to have been done as Jose Carmago was trending on social media with Kenyans making all manner of memes accusing Carmago of choosing William Ruto as President Elect.

The development which appeared to be the petitioners’ smoking gun in the case also punctured the confidence demonstrated by the Ruto and IEBC lawyers who on the 2nd day of the hearings had poked holes in the petition terming it a a comedy without evidence and urged the judges to throw it out.

Lawyer Fred Ngatia dismissed the form saying it doesn’t have the necessary security features of form 34As and that that its presentation was meant to deceive. “My client is now concerned on whether this case will be decided on the realm of falsehoods or facts,” Said Ngatia who represented the President Elect. Ngatia said they have provided the original form to the Court and the said name of Camargo isn’t not on the form. “We deposited all form 34 As as requested by the court. A deliberate effort was made by the counsel for the petitioner to mislead the court so that it can arrive at a decision which would be injurious to my client,” he said.

In June this year, Camargo, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia and Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez were arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after their bag which contained election materials were flagged by police upon arrival in Kenya. According to a statement released by the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, the Venezuelan nationals confessed that they had been invited into the country to bring in the election materials by one Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed.

See also: IEBC on the spot over Venezuela national arrested with election materials

Their statement contradicted IEBC’s assertion that they were invited by the polls body. “Further investigation conducted on Jose Gregorio also showed that he had arrived in the country on a business visa at the invitation of one Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed. Upon probing the suspect, it emerged that Mr Carmago did not bear any letter or documentation indicating that he had been invited by IEBC and as such the materials in his possession belonged to Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed,” Kinoti said.