NAIROBI, Kenya, May 26 – The ongoing preparations for the August 8 General Elections by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) have gone a notch higher following the arrival of more than 10,000 electoral kits from Safran Identity & Security, the supplier of the Kenya Integrated Elections Management Systems (KIEMS).
Using its latest innovations in biometrics, the company is providing a comprehensive solution to enable the IEBC verify the registered voters before the elections and to facilitate a smooth and reliable voting process on the Election Day.
The latest delivery is a major milestone that pushes the total tally of kits in the country to 25,000 KIEMS kits. These kits, which include the innovative MorphoTablet™ 2 of Safran Identity & Security, are part of a consignment of 45,000 kits order placed by the IEBC with the company ahead of the General Election.
More than 11,000 kits have already been deployed in the ongoing voter verification exercise nationwide.
According to IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba, the voter registration verification process is progressing well with the elections body officials already using the KIEMS kit and related infrastructure, which is really reassuring for the entire population.
“At IEBC, it’s all systems go and we expect the entire 45,000 KIEMS consignment from Safran Identity and Security, to be delivered ahead of schedule,” Chiloba said.
The KIEMS solution delivered features the secure MorphoTablet 2, an innovative and sturdy biometric tablet with a heavy duty 24-hour standby capacity battery pack.
This unique, multi-functional tablet can deliver high accuracy biometric identification and matching. The touchscreen Android device offers 4G high speed data transfer, enabling efficient results transmission. IEBC will use the MorphoTablet to verify the voters list before the election and to authenticate the voters with their fingerprints and photo before allowing them to vote.
The tablets will also ensure secure transmission of the voter turnout data and election results. To facilitate future voter registration exercises, the MorphoTablet 2 also features a 13 mega-pixel camera with dual illumination system to capture high definition images even in poor lighting conditions.
Safran Identity & Security is also undertaking skills transfer initiatives including user training programmes, technical assistance as well as logistical support for the IEBC and will remain available to provide maintenance backup throughout the electoral process.
Safran Identity & Security, a global leader in identity and security solutions, has a proven experience for large-scale projects like this in many countries. Backed by more than 40 years of experience in biometrics, the company develops innovative technologies for the public and private sectors, including identity management, secure transactions and public security solutions.
For example, in 2016, the company was selected by the Ivory Coast’s Independent Electoral Commission to assist with two very important elections for the country: the constitutional referendum on October 30th and the parliamentary election on December 18th Ivory Coast once again renewed its trust in Safran Identity & Security who previously contributed to the successful organization of the 2015 presidential election.
The company contributed to every stage of the electoral process, ranging from the voter’s registration using Morpho Tablet devices to the polling day itself.
Safran Identity & Security used its latest biometric technologies to ensure biometric deduplication of the electoral lists, meaning that each voter only appeared once on the list.
The electoral list, featuring over 6.3 million voters, was issued before each election. On the day of the election, the Morpho tablet devices, previously used for voters’ registration, were then deployed in each polling station with a solution tailored by the company to authenticate the voters using their fingerprints and photo, and then securely transfer the results once the votes had been counted.