Raila files application to allow audit of IEBC IT system

Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) confers with Mvita MP-elect Abdulswamad Nassir (left) during the ODM's Coast delegates meeting at Wild Waters Complex in Nyali March 18, 2013. Mr Odinga has filed a fresh application seeking to compel IEBC to allow forensic audit of its IT system before hearing of the election petition proper March 19, 2013. GIDEON MAUNDU

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has filed a fresh application seeking to compel the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to allow a forensic audit of its IT system.

Mr Odinga filed the application under certificate of urgency at the Supreme Court claiming the information contained in the electoral commission’s IT system will be crucial in the main petition he has filed challenging the declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as winner of the March 4 presidential elections.

Mr Odinga, through lawyer George Oraro, argues that the electoral commission has been giving conflicting and confusing reasons for the failure of the electronic system, which the court needs to be informed before they hear the petitions challenging the presidential election outcome.

“IEBC has given conflicting reasons for failure of the Electronic Voter Identification (EVID), Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Results Transmission System (RTS) and Results Presentation System (RPS) and other electronic systems and there is urgent need for parties to place empirical forensic evidence to assist the Supreme Court in making a decision,” said Mr Oraro Tuesday.

To facilitate the forensic audit, he wants an order for the preservation of all Media Access Control (MAC) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for all mobile devices used for electronic voter identification at each of the 33,400 polling stations across the country.

He also wants a preservation of all the Satellite Mobile Telephone handsets used for result transmission, all SIM Cards, laptops, desktop computers, and all the actual servers on which the electronic data transfer for the IEBC occurred.

Mr Odinga further seeks an order for the IEBC to disclose confidentially to the Supreme Court a catalogue of the names of users and passwords assigned to each user at each of the IEBC offices, places of operation and each of the 33,400 polling stations.

“The commission should also avail all receipts and invoices for each of the hardware or software materials they purchased to conduct electronic and manual transfer of results,” said Mr Oraro.

Mr Oraro said the Supreme Court needs to be informed of the real reasons of the IEBC’s electronic voter transmission failure and its impact on the outcome of the presidential elections to enable the judges reach an informed decision over the dispute.

The application is scheduled to be heard Wednesday morning when the six Supreme Court Judges meet for the first time for a mention of the three petitions filed challenging the outcome of the presidential elections.

Mr Oraro said they were forced to seek the information due to the IEBC’s failure to stick to its promise it made to all political parties that the electronic system will be secure and free from manipulation.

“Prior to the elections, the IEBC assured all stakeholders that the system will be transparent, free from manipulation and that not only would there be no un-authorised persons voting but that the transmission of results would be simple, fair and insulated from manipulation by any person,” said Mr Oraro.

He said the IEBC abandoned the process midway after the elections and that some of the reasons it gave that the system had failed due to data overload was not satisfactory.