•The commission put a strong fight in front of election stakeholders as it sought to assure Kenyans of a credible process as compared to the last poll.
Image: IEBC /TWITTER
It might not be possible for anyone to interfere with the networks and channels being used in the transmission of results on August 9 if the statement by IEBC is anything to go by.
On Thursday, the commission put a strong fight in front of election stakeholders as it sought to assure Kenyans of a credible process as compared to the last poll.
During the 2017 General election, there were claims of interference on servers for the transmission of results to the national tallying center.
Speaking at the Bomas of Kenya on Thursday during a simulation of the technology, the commission's secretary Marjan Hussein said they are going to provide login accounts to media, political parties, and other key stakeholders in the process.
To avoid cases of hacking on the system and protect the data, the agency said they have enhanced security features which include firewalls and security access codes On transmission through networks, Hussein explained that the channels will be encrypted making it hard for anyone to interfere and alter the results.
"We are going to encrypt the channels, we are going to have a virtual private network on top of the existing networks to ensure results are transmitted in a secure path," said Marjan.
He noted that this will make it impossible for anyone to access and change or replace the image of what is being transmitted.
Marjan at the same time stated that they will deploy satellite modems for transmission of results in areas out of network.
He said they have identified 1,100 polling centers that are an outreach of 3G or 4G networks.
There are 47,000 polling stations and about 27,000 polling centers.
Images of forms 34A are set to be transmitted electronically to the national tallying center.
"For the purpose of confirming that results transmitted are accurate and captured the way the way they were announced we are going to use physical forms, we do not want to take any chances," he said.
Under the Election Regulations, the form is used to tabulate the results of the presidential election.
And, even as the commission answered questions from various stakeholders on its ability to ensure a credible poll through the transmission process during a stakeholder forum on simulation of the technology to be used, the officials appeared to read from different scripts.
While Marjan asserted that there was no cause for alarm among Kenyans, commissioner Abdi Guliye on his part said this will depend on the funds allocated for the purpose.
Chairperson Wafula said with new regulations meant to address some of the key issues that formed the basis for the nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta's win in 2017, they are going to devise new administrative guidelines.
During the exercise at the Bomas, a simulation of result transmission from 2,900 centers from the 1,450 wards was conducted.