Electronic voting system could lock out 2.5m voters, ICT CS says

The electronic system of voting could lock out about 2.5 million voters from participating in the 2017 General Election, Information Communication Technology Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has said.

Speaking on Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Legal Committee in Nairobi, the CS said that the Independent Elections and Boundary Commission (IEBC) does not have its own network and would thus have to depend on network operators to transmit the results.

Explaining that there is need for a manual back up system, CS Mucheru said that a purely electronic system is also vulnerable to hacks by the terrorist group Al Shabaab.

“We are at war with Al Shabaab which is known to bring down technology,” he said.

The CS further noted that only 17 per cent of the country’s landmass is covered by the 3G network, which translates to 78 per cent of the population.

In his submissions to the committee, Mr Juma Kandie of the Communications Authority said that 94 per cent of the country is covered by the 2G network, leaving about 22 per cent of the entire population outside of electronic coverage.

“It is not possible to cover the whole country, 22 per cent is not covered in various areas across the country,” said Mr Kandie.

In response, Senator Omar Hassan noted that the authority should focus on ensuring that the entire country is covered electronically before the elections, further questioning how two back up electronic systems would fail at the same time.

According to Mr Kandie, technological back up systems such as satellite could be used to help reach the areas not covered by 3G and 2G networks.

He noted that having more than one back up systems would ensure that the system failures are mitigated.

He, however, noted that elections being emotive, delaying voting due to technological failures could cause chaos during the General Election, and insisted that having a manual system would provide another back up plan.

“As Kenyans we need to create a situation where we have back up A, B, C and even E,” he said.