MPs scrap IEBC guarantee of access to election servers, tech

A polling clerk uses a Kiems kit to identify a voter. The technology bit of biometrics and transmission befuddles lawyers and judges during election petition cases.

The National Assembly has scrapped proposed legal safeguards that would have strengthened the electoral commission’s ownership of election technology and required election servers to be hosted in Kenya, reopening questions about who controls the systems used to manage and transmit election results.

The House adopted amendments by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma to the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, removing provisions that sought to vest intellectual property rights in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and require election technology providers to host servers in the country.

Parliament fought off allegations that it banned the live-streaming of election results.

The proposal has been approved by Senate and is now before National Assembly.

They argue that real structural reform requires being inside the lawmaking process.

The procurement process faced multiple legal challenges from other parties over disputed changes to security specifications and evaluation rules.

74 parties have committed to reviewing nomination fees, fighting violence against women candidates, and enforcing constitutional gender thresholds before the polls

Some governors are resisting military intervention on stalled projects out of concern that the presidency will claim ownership.

Two contacts of Kenya’s index patient of the deadly virus tell the Nation about their experience inside the centre in Nairobi.

The petition argues that the 0.8pc export levy disproportionately burdens small-scale farmers.