The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, detailed how the commission is prepared to address the election network server issue that was highly contested during the 2017 General Election.
During an interview on KTN News on Monday, August 9, Chebukati stated the commission has moved its servers from overseas in a bid to ensure smooth transmission, storage, and easy access of data.
In the 2017 elections, the location of servers was one of the biggest points of contention with aggrieved political parties questioning the refusal by the polls body to open them to the public.
In addition to moving the central servers into the country, the commission says it has installed both primary and secondary ones which will be operated locally in preparation for the August 9, 2022 elections.
IEBC further notes that it has employed a team of professionals conversant with the servers and making proper preparations ahead of the polls.
To ensure that the election results are transmitted in a more efficient mode, Chebukati further stated that IEBC is engaging service providers that will handle the technology required during the whole electoral period.
Furthermore, Chebukati made it clear that IEBC is engaging the Communications Authority of Kenya to get a 3G network that will be used to transmit the results to a central point.
"In the 2017 election, we did not have our servers hosted locally, now we have them hosted locally. We have the primary and secondary servers installed in the country. We have a team which is conversant with the servers, and we are also engaging service providers. We are very positive the technology will not have issues," Chebukati stated.
Chebukati assured Kenyans that the commission is determined to lead free and fair elections in 2022.
“Let me take this earliest opportune moment to reiterate the Commission’s commitment towards delivering free, fair, transparent, and credible 2022 General Election. The commission equally remains committed to engaging stakeholders as part of its open-door policy to foster citizen participation in the electoral process,” read part of the statement.
In the 2017 General Election, the issue of servers was highly contested with the opposition accusing the IEBC of deliberately refusing to give access to interested parties even as the Supreme Court led by the then Chief Justice, David Maraga, nullified the electoral results terming them as null and void.
