ICT cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru, has affirmed that the government will deal with fake tallies meant to mislead Kenyans during the electioneering period.
Speaking during a meeting with the Kenya Editors Guild, on Wednesday, August 3, Mucheru explained that the move was intended to safeguard the peace of the country after the voting day.
He added that they had put enough measures to deal with such occurrences in the election whose stakes are high.
"We assure you that if there are any fake tallies, they are going to be dealt with. Security in our country is paramount and ensuring so is having a clear communication method.
"The government is not shutting down the internet. We enjoy a democratic space and we assure you that there will be no internet shutdown,” he stated
Further, he assured Kenyans that there would be no incidents of hacking of the result transmission system warning that action will be taken against anyone who attempts to cyber attack the system.
On the other hand, mobile network operators allayed any fear of result manipulation from their end, adding that they only provide a channel for result transmission.
"We are mandated to provide the 'pipe'. That does not include the server. Images taken by KIEMS kit or forms that represent accounts done by IEBC officials go to the pipe. At the end of the pipe is an IEBC server located in data centers
"We have no resources to validate what is being fed to the pipe. Our mandate is to ensure that the network is secure, available and feasible," stated Safaricom's Shaka Kwach .
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) allowed various candidates to set up their own tallying centers with the aim of promoting transparency.
However, concerns have been raised over the conflicting results that may be announced by the politicians to cause chaos.
Consequently, IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati insisted that they were the only legitimate body to call the poll.
“The media houses, political parties and candidates are free to have their own parallel tally. We can all work together and have one of the peaceful elections in the country.
“You can count the results but of course do not declare. That one you leave to me,” he stated
