Nearly 200 biometric election devices missing in Kenya, audit finds

More than 200 devices linked to the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) cannot be accounted for at the moment.

This is according to an audit report released recently in the country, The Eastleigh Voice reports. Going by the audit report, the missing kits were deployed for voter verification and electronic results transmission during the 2017 and 2022 general elections.

Per the report, despite the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officially reporting only two missing kits, about 30 of the devices were damaged in election-related violence in the country in 2022, while about 159 others deployed for by-elections never made their way back from the field.

In the audit report, the Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, is quoted as blaming the election management agency for not having a robust mechanism to effectively track and manage the deployment of the kits, which has led to a cumulative total of about 4,000 of the devices not fully accounted for following the elections of 2017 and 2022, according to Y News. The country procured a combined 59,100 KIEMS kits for the two elections at different instances from Idemia and Smartmatic.

In line with the IEBC’s policy, KIEMS devices sent to the field are supposed to be returned for storage and reconfiguration to a central warehouse of the elections management body in Nairobi, but reports hold that the policy is not rigorously enforced.

Information about the missing KIEMS devices has sparked fears about the safety and integrity of future elections. It is said that the devices contain some biometric data and software that enables results transmission, and leaving the equipment in unauthorized hands could be a major concern in subsequent polls.

Concerns about missing KIEMS kits literally come to add to the IEBC’s woes as the body expressed concerns last year that a supplementary budget slash was going to affect its preparations for the upcoming elections.

The IEBC Chief Executive Officer, Marjan Hussein Marjan, said then that the budget cut affects item lines related to payments for licenses and maintenance of the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (Kiem) Kits.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  identity management  |  Kenya  |  Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS)  |  voter registration