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IEBC promises to deliver credible polls in August
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati (second left) his deputy Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina (right) CEO Ezra Chiloba (left) with Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Archbishop Eliud Wabukala at Kenyatta International Convention Centre on June 11, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The electoral commission said it would employ backups to address challenges on the spot if they occur.
- The IEBC bought the machines at least 90 days to elections, trained staff and tested about 10,000 of the kits that will be used in the polls.
- To address the issue of power, the machines, when fully charged, will now last up to 24 hours.
- The kits, supplied by French firm Safran, will be integrated to perform different roles.
The electoral commission has promised fool-proof elections on August 8.
The commission said it had learnt from the grave mistakes in 2013, saying it would employ backups to address challenges on the spot if they occur.
And with 55 days to the elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is on Tuesday expected to open itself up for more scrutiny and audit of its preparedness when African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat opens an elections conference to be addressed by President Kenyatta and his main challenger, Raila Odinga.
“In 2013, technology did not fail. People failed technology,” IEBC Information Technology director Chris Msando told an elections cyber security forum at a Nairobi hotel on Monday.
BIOMETRIC VOTER REGISTRATION
In 2013, the biometric voter registration, and results transmission failed on election day due to reasons varying from lack of training, failure to charge the machines and poor network coverage.
To mitigate the problems, he said, the IEBC bought the machines at least 90 days to elections, trained staff and tested about 10,000 of the kits that will be used in the polls.
The kits were deployed during the just-concluded voter verification.
The IEBC needs only 41,000 kits for the elections, Mr Msando said, but it had ordered 45,000 to ensure that the extra ones are ready for deployment at any moment to the 1,450 wards.
FULLY CHARGED
To address the issue of power, the machines, when fully charged, will now last up to 24 hours.
“We had 95 per cent success of the biometric voter identification in the verification,” said Mr Msando.
The kits, supplied by French firm Safran, will be integrated to perform different roles.
Unlike in 2013 when different aspects of the kits were used in different roles, they will carry out the identification, tabulate the results and be used in transmission of results.
An earlier simulation by Safran showed that the kits will periodically relay a count of the number of voters who will have voted every three hours, ensuring almost accurate monitoring.
