Fresh details have emerged indicating NASA spent more than sh47 million in hiring a US consultancy firm ahead of bungled August 8 polls.
According to the Star, US-based Aristotle International Inc, a campaign data mining company, was contracted by NASA.
Email exchanges negotiating payment by Aristotle were mainly addressed to NASA lead financier Jimmy Wanjigi and NASA campaign secretariat head Willis Otieno.
Documents seen by the Star reveal that a total of sh23 million was paid to the company for a period of two-month work before a further sh14 million was paid for extended period of work- a month before the general polls.
This fee did not include flight ticket fare, accommodation and other expenses the company’s officials would incur while working in Kenya.
Before the two Aristotle staff left Washington for Kenya, NASA wired sh2.5 million for airfare.
An email from the company addressed to Otieno read: “In addition to fees, you are also responsible for travel expenses. We ask you to deposit $25,000 with us to defray these costs. We will provide a regular and a detailed accounting to you. Should we exhaust the deposit, we will request additional payment.”
One of the roles Aristotle had in NASA’s campaign was to set up a parallel tallying centre which remained just a pipe dream as government ensured this did not happen.
On August 4, government raided a bungalow in Westlands area, one of the points where a parallel tallying centre was to be set up and confiscated equipment.
Additionally, an American and a Canadian working with Aristotle, John Aristotle Phillips and Andreas Katsouris respectively were arrested before they were deported.
This completely thwarted Raila Odinga’s plan to set up a parallel tallying centre.
Other staff working with the company; Ghanians Harry Mackinson and Jonathan Boye were also deported.
Aristotle’s mandate in the campaign extended to streamlining the campaign organization, messaging and ensuring the NASA Presidential candidate got in maximum benefits from his public appearances which under the purview of the company’s CEO, Philips.
Katssouris was to take lead in field organization, voter outreach and election integrity.
“We understand the campaign has been perceived as lacking message focus, and that it sometimes fails to speak with one voice on key issues. Mr Phillips will work with the candidate and senior staff to define a comprehensive message schedule, after a review of the current campaign strategy and available public opinion.
“Mr Katsouris has a significant experience managing national efforts to deter and detect electoral fraud and to publicize findings in a compelling manner. We will assess the ability of your field organization to deploy Election Day poll watchers and to transmit information, both quantitative and qualitative, to a central location,” stated the contract.
Surprisingly, the US-based data mining company had warned NASA that government would try to sabotage its operations.
“We expect the government may try to disrupt your operations and thus we will offer recommendations on backup communication efforts. You will also need secure information technology resources and statistical expertise to process information as it is received overnight on August 8 and 9,” it stated.