Election electronic server is secure, says IEBC

 

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet

The electoral commission has assured Kenyans that the death of its ICT manager has not compromised its electronic voting systems.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati assured the country that the commission’s servers, systems and networks are safe.

There have been fears that Chris Msando, who played a major role in safeguarding IEBC’s electronic system, may have been murdered by persons who wanted access to the system to manipulate next week’s elections.

 Secure systems

But IEBC said even if the fears were true, Mr Msando controlled very little of the system.

“Our systems are secure. We have service providers who are working on the project and as we speak none of the employees of IEBC have passwords,” Mr Chebukati said.

Chebukati said he was due to meet Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet to discuss security enhancement, and that whoever killed Msando would not succeed in breaching the security of IEBC’s electronic voting system.

The commission has called for speedy conclusion of investigations into the killings and wants police to involve them

“We have written to the inspector general of police to expedite investigations and also provided a lawyer to join the team to safeguard interests of IEBC in ensuring no stone is left unturned in finding the killers,” Chebukati added.

By Monday evening, the State had enhanced Chebukati’s security, assigning him six extra bodyguards, up from two. The chairman now has two chase cars.

Other commissioners received two more bodyguards each. Police headquarters say they are working with the electoral agency to identify officers performing critical roles who will have their security increased.

Chebukati wants more security extended to poll officers in the field.

“As a commission, we are appealing to the Government to provide security for all our staff especially the returning officers and senior staff,” he said.