The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has responded to reports of theft of electronic voter identification devices (EVID) laptops and biometric voter registration (BVR) kits from several of its warehouses across Kisumu, Tharaka-Nithi and Nandi counties in Kenya.
The commission has clarified that the devices were not used in the 2017 and 2022 general elections, as they had become obsolete since they were procured in 2012 for use in the 2013 General Election.
Clarification on Stolen EVID Laptops and BVR Kits pic.twitter.com/NyP0XVd09X
— IEBC (@IEBCKenya) March 15, 2023
“Instead, the Commission used the Kenya Integrated Electronic Management System (KIEMS) kits. EVIDs have since become obsolete and their net book value is zero,” IEBC said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The devices have a net book value of zero and are lined up for disposal after following due process as guided by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 and its attendant regulations.
“Since the devices cannot be used and they are attracting costs in form of storage and security, they have been lined up for disposal after following the due process as guided by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 and its attendant regulations,” the Hussein Marjan-led commission added.
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IEBC stated that the stolen 125 BVR kits only contain raw data that has not been processed for inclusion in the register of voters, thus posing minimal risks.
“Data stored in the BVR kits, if any, is automatically encrypted by the application system to ensure integrity and confidentially,” the statement read.
The commission further noted that the data stored in the BVR kits, if any, is automatically encrypted by the application system to ensure integrity and confidentiality. The 952 stolen devices were attracting costs in form of storage and security and cannot be used. Therefore, the commission intends to dispose of them.
The theft may have happened between 2013 and 2021, according to IEBC’s Public Accounts Committee report for 2020/2021. The commission’s CEO, Hussein Marjan, revealed to the committee that in some cases, the equipment was stolen even as the police manned the warehouses.