Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) Clears 3 Telecoms to Transmit 2017 Election Results

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) has announced that three telecommunication firms will be authorised to transmit the IEBC elections results during the August 2017 polls.

The decision comes in the wake of a petition by the National Super Alliance (NASA) where the Opposition argued that the IEBC did not have much time to come up with a backup system for the election results.

The NASA coalition sought to have the IEBC mandated to reveal to the public that they had put in place such mechanisms.

Read More: NASA Sues IEBC Over Use of Electronic Identification and Transmission of Results

Speaking on Monday, CAK Director General Francis Wangusi assured that the three firms, yet to be named, would be equal to the task.

He added that parties wishing to have parallel tallying centres would not be allowed to announce their results before the IEBC.

Siaya Senator James Orengo on Thursday had threatened that NASA would announce its tallied presidential results if the IEBC delays in releasing the August 8th poll results.

The Legislator affirmed his statement explaining that the law does not direct any party to wait for the IEBC results to make known its tallied version.

Read More: We Will Announce Presidential Results - NASA Leader Declares

The Communications boss reiterated an earlier statement assuring Kenyans that the government would not shut down internet services over the election period.

"We are unlikely to shut down social media platforms but we are going to be very vigilant to flag off suspicious messages and hand over authors to relevant authorities," he assured.

Read More: Government Says There Will be No Internet Shutdown During Elections

Mr Wangusi further warned "fake news" websites that they risked de-licensing by the communications body for releasing the results pre-maturely.

"We are reminding media houses toying with the idea of releasing results ahead of IEBC to stop, IEBC is the official body charged with releasing the official results," he warned.