Wetangula Denies Business Dealings with Greek Ballot Printer, IEBC

Bungoma senator Moses Wetangula has refuted claims that he has had business dealings with a Greek company awarded ballot printing tender in October 2021.

The legislator denied the claims following a report by the Daily Nation on Wednesday, as well as a statement from the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance.

The Ford Kenya leader said the report was not only false but also malicious. This he said as he asked the Raila Odinga-led outfit to avoid linking him to their pre-election woes.

“ODM must keep me out of their election woes and come to the reality that they are once again starring at a disastrous election outing,” Wetangula said.

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He also denied knowing anything about the ballot printing business or dealing with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

“I have never had any business relationship with IEBC. I know nothing about ballot printing or any printing business for that matter!” exclaimed the lawmaker.

He added that the report is a diversion from real election issues like fighting corruption, high cost of living, debt burden, state capture and conflicts of interest in the management of public affairs.

“Furthermore, there appears to be a hopelessly spirited malicious witch-hunt against leaders holding political opinions that are seen as going against or challenging the so-called system.”

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He also revealed plans to take legal action against the daily.

“If any letters were written on letterheads indicating they are from the Bungoma senator’s office, they must be forgeries!! I have never written such letters. I do not and I repeat, I do not know the three foreigners being referred to,” he added.

The Odinga campaign asserted that three Greek businessmen were invited to Kenya by the Bungoma Senator in January of last year to talk about “investment opportunities,” and that nine months later, in October of the same year, the same people won a sizable contract from the electoral agency through their firm, Inform Lykos (Hellas) SA Holdings.

Yesterday the Azimio coalition party, through secretary-general Junet Mohamed, demanded that IEBC in conjunction with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) probe Wetangula’s relationship with the Greek company in a bid to “protect the General Election from interference through the surreptitious introduction of electoral materials or other unlawful means”.

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The senator is said to have extended invites to three Greek businessmen; Mr Awa David Anderson, Mr Antonio Ramon Fernandez and Mr Gkrekis Konstantinos in January last year to discuss “investment opportunities”.

He is also said to have written to  the Greek ambassador to Kenya, Antonios Sgourpoulos, on June 10, 2021, pushing to have Mr Joshua Abdalla Makokha, issued with a Schengen visa to enable him to travel to Athens, Greece.

The former minority leader in the Senate, has also denied the said Mr Makokha.

The Suna East MP had doubts about whether the three visitors’ trip to Kenya served the objectives outlined in Wetangula’s letters but was certain that the company had not made investments in the counties of Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia counties, as outlined in the latter’s letters.

“To our knowledge, no investments have ever been made in any of the three counties by Lykos,” he said.