IEBC hires Posta to distribute election materials

NAIROBI, KENYA: The electoral agency has hired the services of Postal Corporation of Kenyan popularly known as Posta as the lead logistics firm to distribute electoral materials.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) entered into a framework contract that will seek Posta to move polling materials to all regions.

The commission expects the materials to be picked from its warehouse based in Nairobi's Industrial Area and taken either to the county or constituency headquarters.

IEBC settled on Posta due to its wide network having more than 300 branches distributed throughout the country which then provides a reliable national network that can be harnessed to ensure timely arrival of the resources.

At the regions, logistics officers working together with warehouse officers will then receive the materials for purposes of redistributing to al the 40,833 polling stations.

"We have both strategic and non-strategic materials. All strategic materials will be delivered at our central warehouse while non-strategic materials will be delivered by suppliers to the regional offices," IEBC deputy CEO Betty Nyabuto-Sungura said.

Ms. Sungura who is in charge of operations said it's all systems go as the movement of materials and training of officials handling the elections has already commenced.

Among the materials to be handled by Posta are ballot boxes, ballot papers and indelible ink that will leave Nairobi to the regions with ballot boxes to some regions having left with ballot papers expected in the country by next week.

The commission has recruited 290 logistics officers who are undergoing training and will be charged together with warehouse officials with ensuring all the materials have reached their destination on time.