Stolen laptops, BVR kits were not used in 2017, 2022 elections - IEBC
The
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has clarified the theft of Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVID)
laptops and Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits in several of its warehouses
in the country.
This is in the wake of a report the commission
presented to Parliament detailing the loss of election equipment such as laptops,
BVR kits, and hard disks across Kisumu, Tharaka-Nithi and Nandi counties.
While some sections of the media reported
that the stolen equipment posed a threat to the credibility of the country’s
past elections, among them the 2022 polls, the commission has said devices were
not used in the 2017 and 2022 general elections.
“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 electoral body said the 952 stolen devices
were procured in 2012 for use in the 2013 General Election.
“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.
The commission further noted that the 125 stolen 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.
In IEBC’s Public Accounts Committee
report for 2020/2021, the commission says the theft may have happened between
2013 and 2021.
Marjan, who is the commission's CEO, says they lost 952 EVID laptops, 125 BVR kits and
1,315 hard disks.
He told the committee that in some cases, the equipment was stolen even as the
police manned the warehouses.
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