Reacting to the murder of Chris Msando, head of information technology at Kenya’s independent election monitoring body, Abdullahi Halakhe, Amnesty International’s Kenya researcher, said:

"Chris Msando’s death must be urgently investigated and those found responsible brought to justice.

"This gruesome murder, just a week before hotly-contested elections, should sound alarm bells for the Kenyan government and highlight the need for them to up their game in terms of ensuring the safety of key officials at this tense time.

"Next week’s vote will be extremely close and there is a very real danger that the situation will erupt if the authorities do not ensure that the Kenyan people are able to cast their votes free from intimidation, threats and violence."