• The death was announced Friday by Siaya Governor James Orengo.
• "Mama had a magnetic personality and ability to care deeply for others that allowed her to cultivate many lasting relationships. May her soul Rest in Eternal Peace."
Image: JAMES ORENGO/X
Former IEBC IT manager Chris Msando's mother is dead.
Siaya Governor James Orengo announced the passing of Mama Maria Msando on his X handle on Friday.
"My heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and relatives of the late IEBC ICT Manager Chris Msando for the passing on of their family matriarch Mama Maria Msando," he tweeted.
Orengo described Mama Maria as a woman who had a magnetic personality and the ability to care deeply for others.
This, the governor added, allowed her to cultivate many lasting relationships.
"May her soul Rest in Eternal Peace," Orengo said.
Mama Maria has passed on, six years since her son was murdered, without having seen justice served.
In 2022, Maria revealed she still had difficulty sleeping every time she remembered how her son was murdered.
She regretted that justice was yet to be served following the brutal incident.
"The fact that justice has never been served for my family to get closure and move on, adds salt to the injury," she said.
Msando, the man who had been tasked with being in charge of the Kenya Integrated Electoral Management System (KIEMS) ahead of the 2017 polls was found dead on July 31, just days before the August 8 polls.
At the time of his death, Msando had only been in the job for two months after his predecessor was suspended for refusing to cooperate with an audit firm tasked with cleaning the voters' register.
He had gone missing on July 28, 2017, and four days later, his half-naked body was found, alongside that of a woman identified as Carol Ngumbu, at Maguga forest in Kikuyu, with hallmarks of torture.
He had deep scratches and cuts on his back, with reports indicating that one of his arms was missing.
Autopsy results revealed that he had been tortured and strangled to death.
"There was no doubt he was tortured and murdered," former immediate IEBC chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, said.
Former Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet described the murder as a grave crime and set up a special DCI Homicide team to probe it.
"We are following certain crucial leads we believe could lead to the arrest and prosecution of the murderers," he said.
Andrew Kipkoech Rono, a suspect in the murder, was however released after the prosecution failed to provide enough ground for further detention.
No charges had been preferred against him despite being detained for 19 days.
Rono had been detained over an alleged threatening message he was said to have sent to Msando.
Msando's death remains one of Kenya's unsolved high-profile murder cases.