Posta will provide logistics services during election

Election materials will be transported by the Postal Corporation of Kenya.

This is after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Monday signed Sh700 million agreement with Posta to provide logistics services during the election.

The three-year agreement will see Posta transport election materials countrywide to designated IEBC offices, warehouses, polling centres and to any other IEBC stakeholders.

Under the agreement, Posta will ensure confidentiality in handling IEBC materials and any other related information within their custody for the security and credibility of processes.

IEBC chief executive officer Marjan Hussein Marjan said efficient logistics services were key to a credible electoral process, adding that the contract would go beyond the election.

“IEBC would use their services should it require conveyance of elections material from one location to another,” Marjan said.

Posta CEO and postmaster general Dan Kagwe said the corporation would put in place a tracking mechanism that notifies IEBC officials on the status of the materials at any given point.

Kagwe said Posta currently runs a customer web-based portal that allows capturing the details of materials at every station of collection to the point of delivery.

During the 2017 election, Posta earned Sh1.1 billion for logistical services offered to the IEBC in both the August 8 election and the October 26 repeat presidential poll.

Under the previous two-year contract, Posta was paid Sh600 million for delivering ballot boxes, papers and indelible ink to polling centres.

It was also paid Sh500 million for the distribution of electoral materials and equipment for the repeat presidential poll.

“We are making efforts to respond to the fast-changing consumer needs in the adaptation of new technologies, to enable the development of suitable last-mile delivery networks,” Kagwe said.

He said Posta has a great capacity to handle distribution and logistical services for IEBC and that the partnership would ease customer experience.

Kagwe said their long-established national network of over 600 branches countrywide and experience in last-mile delivery will be an added advantage.

The partnership comes at a time when Posta has established itself as the ideal logistics and courier partner for government agencies.

In the recent past, Posta has partnered with NTSA, Kemsa and the Directorate of Immigration Services as it rapidly innovates to recover from the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Edited by Kiilu Damaris