This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
Published on July 15, 2020, the IEBC has announced plans to reuse polls technology from 2017 in the upcoming 2022 elections.
IEBC Commissioner Abdi Guliye stated that reusing the technology would save the country money by only requiring software upgrades, rather than investing in a new polls system.
Prof Guliye emphasized the importance of servicing the existing hardware and software, and renewing licenses for proprietary software, in order to continue using the technology.
The decision to reuse the technology comes as the IEBC prepares for the 2022 elections, with the French company Idemia having been accused of bungling the transmission of election results in 2017.
Idemia's contract with the IEBC expires next year, and the agency has asked the Treasury to allocate funds to procure software from the French firm to maintain the use of the elections kits.
The Kiems system, which contains biometric voter registration, candidate registration, voter identification, and results transmission, was used in the 2017 General Election and the repeat presidential election in October 2017.
Former IEBC vice-chairman Lilian Mahiri-Zaja suggested a phased introduction of new polls technology, citing the need to educate the public and political parties about the new technology.
Prof Guliye warned that delays in fixing election laws, including provision for the reuse of polls technology, were hurting the electoral agency's preparedness for the 2022 elections.
