IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati assured the nation of the Commission’s commitment to deliver a credible poll saying the servers upon which the transmission system is anchored are in full control of the agency he heads/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) successfully completed its last major results transmission simulation, clearing the way for General Election due on Tuesday.
The exercise conducted at the National Tallying Centre (NTC) at the Bomas of Kenya on Wednesday saw mock presidential results beamed live from county headquarters spread across the country shortly after 5pm in the evening.
IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati assured the nation of the Commission’s commitment to deliver a credible poll saying the servers upon which the transmission system is anchored are in full control of the agency he heads.
“IEBC has provided its own independent equipment and servers, on both ends of the transmission chain (sending and receiving). The commission remains wholly responsible and in-charge of the operationalisation and security of its equipment and servers during this time,” he told members of the press corps and election observers at the NTC.
Chebukati assured that all the three telecommunication companies contracted to provide the network for results transmission will provide a secure conduit for transmission of encrypted results.
During the simulation, Communication Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Wangusi ruled out interference with the telecommunication infrastructure saying measures were in place to ensure Kenyans have access to network connectivity on poll day.
“We have ensured there’s good infrastructure that will ensure quality of data transmission as well as security in the course of transmission of results,” Wangusi said.
“I also want to assure that the normal public communication is not going to be interrupted as we have availed sufficient capacity needed by IEBC as well as that needed by Kenyans to communicate,” he added.
Also present during the simulation were Vice Commissioner Consolata Nkatha, Commissioners Roselyn Akombe, Abdi Guliye, Margret Wanjala, Boya Molu, Paul Kurgat and Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba.
So far, the Commission has received election material for all elective seats including presidential ballot papers which landed in the country on Monday and Tuesday.
Due to late court rulings, however, ballot papers for Kirinyaga Senate, Embu Governorship, and East Asembo Ward race will be reprinted.
The simulation exercise had been slated for Monday, the commission having to postpone it due to the discovery of the body of one of its ICT managers at a city morgue after he went missing on Friday.
The killing of Chris Msando has attracted wide criticism even as post-mortem results Wednesday revealed that he was strangled to death.
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