An official in charge of Kenya's computerized voting system has been found dead just over a week before the country's election.

Chris Msando, an IT manager for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, was found dead on Saturday in a forest outside Nairobi.

His body was found alongside that of an unidentified woman. Both of them were naked and appeared to have been tortured.

Chris Msando (pictured) was found dead in the forests outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi

It is unclear why it took Kenyan Police 48 hours to formally identify the body at the City Mortuary.

Police sources told the Kenyan Star that one of Msando's arms had been cut off.

His body was further reported to have had visible injuries on his back, belly, and left side of his head.

IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati said: 'There was no doubt he was tortured and murdered.'

Msando was last seen at 10pm on Friday evening. A security camera recorded his grey Land Rover Discovery on Mombasa Road in the south east of the capital.

The body was discovered on Saturday but it took Kenyan Police 48 hours to formally identify it

Odinga's opposition alliance NASA condemned the 'heinous murder' of Msando, saying in a statement they were 'gravely concerned' about its implications.

'That no effort was made to camouflage this killing as an accident shows the determination of the killers to send a chilling message that they will stop at nothing to ensure the outcome they desire,' read the statement.

Msando was in charge of a system of electronic voter identification and vote counting seen as crucial to avoid rigging, and was the second in command in the commission's IT department.

Msando's Land Rover Discovery had been found abandoned in the south east of Nairobi

He had recently appeared on television, explaining the voting system and assuring viewers that the polls would be successful.

All eyes are on this electronic system ahead of August 8 polls after its crash in 2013 led the opposition to accuse the election commission of rigging the election.

Tensions have risen in Kenya ahead of the presidential election, which has been a bad-tempered and tight race between President Uhuru Kenyatta and longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

While 2013 polls were largely peaceful, Kenya remains traumatised by a disputed 2007 election, which Odinga claimed was rigged.

Chris Msando was in charge of overseeing Kenya's computerized voting system ahead of a crucial presidential vote on August 8

Two months of ethnic clashes and a crackdown on protests left 1,100 dead in east Africa's richest economy, which had been seen as a bastion of stability in the region.

Msando's death follows a mysterious attack at the home of deputy president William Ruto on Saturday in Eldoret northwest of Nairobi.