IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan has said election officials posted in underserved areas may have to transmit electronic election results outside their gazetted areas in case the backup internet infrastructure fails.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), had already procured 1,111 satellite modems, to be deployed in areas without 4G/3G network required to transmit scanned results forms.
However, the commission said that in case all these fail, the poll officials will be forced to move to other places with internet connectivity to transmit results.
“I don’t think there is a country with 100 percent roll out of 3G network and 4G. Where there is no network there must be a provision where the presiding officer can move to another place and be able to transmit the same,” IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein said.
During a televised interview on Wednesday, July, 13, Hussein Marjan implied that it is possible to transmit election results from the 290 constituency tallying centers where transmission fails in polling centers.
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“It’s possible that certain areas may still have difficulties in access to 3G and 4G and where that is the case the presiding officer can be able to transmit the same at the tallying center,” Hussein Marjan Stated.
Likewise, the electoral body had proposed a complementary mechanism for result transmission through the Elections Amendment Bill, 2022 to address situations where challenges are met during the transmission of election results. However, the proposals were not adopted.
Nonetheless, transmission of election results in Kenya’s previous elections has been a major challenge that has often fueled tension that follows after polls.
At the same time, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati explained that the smooth delivery in result transmission relies on the ability of mobile service providers to provide network coverage.
“We had a meeting with mobile service providers and there is a technical team working around that….IEBC cannot do the elections on its own we need other stakeholders to come in and that we engage suppliers. The issue of internet connectivity is not on IEBC but for the enablers,” Chebukati stated.
Furthermore, Communication Authority (CA) had guaranteed that the transmission of August 9, 2022 election results will be seamless as network coverage across the country had been strengthened.
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The Ezra Chiloba-led agency revealed that the 3G and 4G network coverage in the country is now at 96 per cent hence making the transmission of the results easier.
Nonetheless, during the 2017 General Election, according to the authority, network coverage was at 76 per cent with IEBC deploying satellite phones to areas with network challenges.
