One of the core reasons why the public feels aggrieved is the belief that the electoral process was wrought with incidences of fraud. Sentiments of such uncertainty were rife well before the final tallies were presented to the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) Chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu.
In various constituencies across the country one common complaint that arose was that of missing names in the electoral registers and multiple registration therefore making one ineligible to vote. Ways of minimising such errors is instrumental in future electoral conduct.
Mr Gabriel Mukele, the former ECK vice chairman, says these are concerns they had taken into consideration even during his tenure. "We had visited some countries across the world to look at the way they did things and also to learn ways of better enhancing the process," he says.
Electronic voting was one tentative area the ECK was exploring and a key limitation was the cost. "The voting machines in this case were cheapest in India with one retailing at Sh250,000 per unit which added to the other costs of needed infrastructure and change of voter cards was deemed pretty steep," he reveals.
At the IT offices situated within the ECK headquarters, Mr Ayub Imbira the Head of the department concurs with these sentiments. "The machines are expensive especially if you take into account the 20,000 plus voting centres in the country but they are a definite possibility as we focus ahead," he says.
However, he quickly points out that in this technological era it is a natural step tied in to the proposed reforms. "Even now it may be that the cost of not executing ICT based practices may be much higher in the short term," he states. The machine itself is a simple desktop computerised tool where the voter is presented with the list of candidates and instructions on how to key in the required choice.
Though the Research Department has been looking at how to roll out electronic voting the ECK remains cautious. "The system does away with paper but the belief of many when it comes to verification of tallies and results still lies with the paper trail," notes Imbira.
"The workability of such a system locally, therefore, begins with the creation of awareness to the electorate, the political class and of course our staff," he maintains.
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia defines electronic voting as "a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes". It goes on to say that the technology can include punch cards, optical scan voting systems and specialised voting kiosks (including self-contained Direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting systems). It can also involve transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet.’ The DRE is the system being considered by the ECK.
With the proliferation and growth of telecommunications in the country both the internet and mobile technologies have become vital assets in the conduct of any kind of business. "Even prior the just concluded elections the IT department had proposed using mobile telephony in sending results from tallying centres but there were drawbacks," he reveals. One of these was if errors of any sort were created through its use there were no stipulations within the ECK laws to address such an issue.
"It could end up being a very tricky situation as someone could make a mistake if they are inept in the technology or be up to mischief and the proper legislation to deal with this situation has yet to come into play," he says.
ECK laws have then to be slated to accommodate the conceptualisation of technology within the electoral process but it has to begin with a constitutional framework regarding the ICT sector. There has been little progress on a Draft Bill tabled in Parliament in 2006. "With these in place then it will easier to guard against any technological abuses," Imbira adds. Imbira says that in the time preceding the elections the ECK had a link to Telkom where voters were provided with a Short Message Service (SMS) number they could use to inquire on their voter status via mobile handsets. "One of the problems we encountered was some players in this market giving their own numbers to direct such queries," he says. Despite such problems the device is being viewed as essential in many aspects including voter education where for example constituency profiles can be derived via SMS.
"When the mobile telephony idea was shelved for the time being at least, there was the consideration of laptops which had already been bought and distributed to all returning officers," and goes on to say that apart from the challenge of lack of basic infrastructure like electricity and network coverage there was also unwillingness to utilize the machines by a number. "It may be that the officers were not yet comfortable with the idea of going digital yet and it is too this end that we are continuing the e-tallying training exercise started last year across the board," he states.
Keying in results at the centre
Speaking to Sunday BizBytes, Imbira said they hope to implement computing of results from the polling stations on a first trial basis in forthcoming by elections. "The smaller numbers involved for those parliamentary and civic seats where results were nullified will be allow us to gauge the viability of the pilot project," he says. The decision to use the machines that will incorporate wireless technology is yet to be made as so do preparations for the aforesaid elections.
"The laptops will be configured and programmed for each particular centre and the returning officers will be keying in results as they come in and send them to headquarters in real time," he adds. As well as being able to authenticate results as data is captured and logged in the system the ECK will also be able to verify the voter percentages. "With our registers we will be able to cross reference and detect any possible anomalies such as 100 percent voting which is quite rare or numbers going beyond," he reveals.
Various challenges in ensuring efficiency and competency are aspects ECK should work to curb. Some of these would be having IT skilled election monitors in regions where they are not likely to be partisan. Also the ECK should not rely solely on these officials but have party representatives on the premise to verify before any results are posted.
Time stamping of these data done automatically in the logging process is also quite important, as it will factor in verification. "The challenge of progressive reporting though is the fear of the general public taking results as the final tally before this is so especially as they are updated online," the IT head proclaims. This perhaps may be stemmed by cautionary advice to the general public by the electoral body on set procedure applied for posting such pronouncements.
When asked about availing voter registry’s online via their website he says the ECK is wary about such a move. "As you saw during the election rundown cases of people with parallel registers came up with all sorts of insinuations and because some may have sinister motives it may not be wise to avail such material for easy download," he states.
In reference to this case the registers were copied from the manually written ‘Black Book’ availed in each polling station for voters to verify their status pre-election. The online version is only accessible to specific officials.
Creation of an Electoral Information System (EIS) that begun way back in 1992 has continued undergoing transformation designed to keep it in line with changing times. "When the ECK began computerizing voter registry it was trying to ease the cumbersome workload of typing all this information required on voter profiles," he says.
The database has been using software known as Microsoft SQL server that is quite adaptable. "The SQL is customizable and we have built on various interfaces which can programme on Visual Basic, 4GL, FoxPro and even those in the lower level such as Microsoft Access," he adds.
One natural query that comes up is the proficiency of the system in checking transparency of the data input. "The system has safeguards input that reflect an audit trail of any amendments logged in or record of any sort of transaction process, " Mr. Imbira reveals and goes on to say the fact that all information is logged into the system it is easier to trace mistakes or interference.
Forging partnerships with the Directorate of National Registry of persons and that of the Civil Registry has been debated in recent times. " I do agree that it is time we moved beyond the committee level to the sharing of data in order to further enhance efficiency," he states. This will mean creating a shared network system that could be effected under the ongoing E-Government mandate. The main challenge here is ensuring security is retained and such sensitive data does not fall in the wrong hands.
It is in this respect of getting an accurate overview of eligible voters nationally that the ECK is also collating data with Central Bureau of Statistics. Mr Imbira admits that there is need to grow the command ICT centre at the headquarters to accommodate upcoming developments. "We need to have a nerve centre with a networked database where all processes are monitored nationwide," he stated.
Other developing countries have been modernising their electoral processes by incorporating technology with a view to increasing transparency, efficiency and good governance. Maldives is a state incorporating a cluster of islands in the Caribbean beset by similar challenges and it is a key example when it comes to practical application of ICT from electoral registration to declaration of results.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Gathoni Muraya
Quelle/Source: The Standard, 27.01.2008
