AFRICA COMPUTERS AND HARD DRIVES STOLEN FROM ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF KENYAallAfrica.com: Kenya: Casebook: Was the ECK Robbery Aided By Suppliers Or Workers?Casebook: Was the ECK Robbery Aided By Suppliers Or Workers?

The Nation (Nairobi)

January 17, 2005
Posted to the web January 18, 2005

Odindo Ayieko
Nairobi

At least two armed administration policemen stay on guard at the Electoral Commission of Kenya offices on the 20th floor of Anniversary Towers day and night.

There are also other security guards stationed on the ground floor of the building and the basement to beef up the security of the imposing building along University Way in Nairobi.

Ordinarily, to gain access to the offices, one has to go through the security check and explain his mission.

There is a book on the ground floor, where every visitor to the building must indicate which offices he is visiting and the purpose. The same is the case on the basement where all vehicles must register to gain access.

Also on the ground floor, is a monitor which the security officers use to see the movement of the lifts.

So when armed thieves gained access to the building and forced their way into the ECK offices in June last year, questions were raised as to whether it was a security lapse or a pre-planned burglary, or whether it was the work of ECK staff who passed the security guards unsuspected.

Monday, June 7, 2004 was a normal working day. ECK Staff checked out as usual at 5 p.m. leaving on guard the administration police. Usually, the main entrance to the wing where ECK and Mpata Investment are is locked when everyone is out.

But at 8.30 p.m., armed burglars broke into the offices and into the supplies and procurement office where they stole several computers and destroyed several others.

The gangsters also destroyed and took away computers, diskettes and scanners containing vital information related to the commission's procurement procedures.

It was such a well coordinated process that once the gangsters were finished with their mission, they used a gate-away vehicle waiting for them at the basement of the building.

Had it not been for Moses Minchil, a senior accountant at Mpata Investments, a tour firm adjacent to the ECK offices, nobody would have known that there was a burglary until the next morning when staff checked in.

It was Minchil who bore the brunt of the gangsters anger when he met them on the floor as he went back to his office to collect his jacket and other personal effects.

"I was just coming back to the office from my lessons at the University of Nairobi to pick my jacket and phone, which I had left behind. When I entered the building, all seemed normal, with the security guards downstairs busily chatting. I took a lift to the 20th floor but as I came out of it, I met a man waiting for the lift to take him down. He was shocked to see me," says Minchil.

"The corridor on the floor was dark, the lights having been switched off. Only one of the rooms at the ECK offices had lights on while the APs who guard the floor were missing."

At first Minchil assumed the man was an employee of ECK who had worked late. "He was well dressed in a suit and a tie. But what made me suspicious was his reaction when I came off the lift."

He alerted others near the offices and two well dressed men appeared demanding to know who Minchil was and what he was doing. They then ransacked his pockets looking for his phone.

"One of them ordered the other two to tie me up and take my phone while another said, 'tusimuumize' (let's not harm him). They took the Sh1000 I had and tied my hands using a neck tie and my legs with a computer cable. That is when it dawned on me that something was not right."

Meanwhile, two other men (also well dressed) carried computers and printers from the offices and into the corridors. "They told me not to lift my head or they would beat me."

Once they had gathered all the computer hard discs and printers on the corridors, they took the lift leaving Minchil upstairs.

"I struggled to untie myself but the more I tried, the more the cords tightened. However, after about seven minutes I managed to stand up and hop to the lift, which I pressed to go down. On reaching ground floor, the security guards were still deeply engrossed in their conversation as though nothing had happened," says Minchil.

"When they saw me, they rushed to me asking what was wrong. I told them there were thieves in the building. That is when they sent word round for other security men to seal the block. By then it was little too late."

Police officers from the Central Police Station - 500 metres away, arrived a few minutes later and launched investigations. Two security guards from Securicor were arrested and locked in for questioning. They were later charged for neglect and released.

Investigations revealed that the thieves were only interested in the computer hard discs and vital documents.

They had also broken into the Mpata Investments offices and taken away four computer hard discs.

What is baffling about the incident was where the APs were at the time of the break in.

Minchil says that when there was someone working late, the APs would be informed to lock the exit door, which the two offices (ECK and Mpata Investments) share. "But on this day, it seems the door was deliberately left unlocked by somebody."

It would take time to break into the doors of the two offices, which is also not a silent affair. Does it mean the APs or security officers downstairs heard no commotion given that the thugs also broke into cabinets and drawers?

ECK has other offices on the 5th and 6th floors, which are also guarded by APs but none of them (APs) seem to have heard any commotion.

The officers meant to be manning the 20th floor could not explain convincingly where they had disappeared to. They claimed they had gone to look for food, but this does not explain why both of them had to go out at the same time leaving the offices unlocked and unguarded. Was it a coincidence that the thugs came just the moment they were out getting their dinner? The APs claimed not to have left anyone in either of the offices, why then did they not lock up?

After the incident the APs were re-deployed.

What interest did the thugs have in the computer hard discs, could there been information they wanted? Perhaps to destroy?

It seemed the thugs knew their way around the building and the particular office they were interested in. They went straight to the ECK's supplies and procurement office. Had they been sent by an insider who gave them the map within the building or were they themselves insiders?

There are only two of the six lifts that go to the basement, the thugs knew which one to take, according to Minchil. "When they pressed for the lifts to go down, they waited specifically for either of the two, which go to the basement. "This lends credence to the fact that the burglars must have been well informed on the operations of the building.

ECK Public Relations Officer, Mani Lemaiyan, claimed that nothing important was stolen during the burglary but a staff member we talked to during our visit to the building last week says the thugs were interested in procurement and supplies documents.

"They carried hard discs and destroyed diskettes. They also broke into the cabinets and destroyed the documents. It's like they knew what they were after. These were no ordinary burglars, they were well aware of what they wanted," said the employee who requested anonymity.

He added, "our supplies department is not very busy especially when it is not an electioneering year, but that is the department that handles all the procurement dealings and they know who they operate with and how."

But still unanswered is what was contained in these hard discs and diskettes that they wanted destroyed, was it some damning information on a procurement scam?

ECK vice chairman, Gabriel Mukele, confirmed that there was a burglary and that ECK lost computers which have never been recovered. "I do not understand their real motive for taking away our computers but we have back-up security for all our information. Whether they were interested in computers or something else I don't know but the important thing is that it did not mess most of our operations."
It is worth noting that the building has high profile offices and shops with expensive goods, but the thugs were only interested in the ECK offices. Had they been interested in money, they could have raided a restaurant or pub within the building or broken into an electronics shop downstairs, but they targeted ECK.

It is not clear why the ECK seems to have taken little interest in following up the case.

Mysteriously still is how the burglars walked into the building took whatever they wanted and left without being noticed.