Results transmission at risk in 224 polling centres with no network

A total of 224 polling centres have no network coverage at all, a move that may affect timely transmission of results, the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has told a senate committee.

CA Director General Ezra Chiloba yesterday told the senate ICT Committee that if nothing is done between now and August, then the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will be forced to use satellite mobile phones to transmit from those centres.

Mr Chiloba said the CA was racing against time to ensure that most polling stations and centres are covered with either 3G or 4G network.

“The 224 polling centres may be served using alternative connectivity technology such as satellite phones. We are informed that IEBC has about 1,500 satellite phones that can be used to address this final gap,” Mr Chiloba said.

Submission of electoral results to IEBC headquarters is by law supposed to be done electronically from the polling stations, and was a major sticking point in the 2017 elections, as this was not proved to have been done in many cases due to lack of reliable internet connectivity.

The Supreme Court in the 2017 ruling that nullified the presidential elections narrowed down on 11,000 polling stations, some of them in Kiambu, Murang'a, Kisumu, and other places that generally should have good internet network, and which the IEBC said could not transmit their results forms because of lack of connectivity.

Mr Chiloba pointed out that there are 481 polling centres that have 2G network coverage, but which will be upgraded to 3G and/or 4G network before elections.

Most of the 224 polling centres are in the marginalised areas. He pointed out that the authority is facing challenges such as insecurity and resistance from the communities in the region in ensuring that they are covered.

“You go to a place like Turkana for instance to ensure that they have network but the locals will tell you they need water and not network,” Mr Chiloba told the committee, led by Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.

Mr Chiloba told the committee that due to accessibility challenges the electoral commission is yet to submit GPS coordinates of 140 polling centres so that they can be covered.

“As CA, we have put on hold some of our activities to ensure that in the next five months, the issue of network coverage is addressed because many stakeholders, including IEBC, have been asking about network coverage in relation to elections,” Mr Chiloba said.

He said according to CA operation plans, all areas in the country should have 100 percent coverage by 2023.

However, Kitui Senator Enock Wambua questioned why the network coverage was being addressed late, with only a few months to the elections.

“An election cycle is five years in this country, why wait until a few months before elections (to) realise that some areas don’t have network. Why do I get the feeling that CA is just concerned with the 2022 elections and connecting various parts of the country to network coverage? he asked.

Nominated Senator Abshiro Halake told Mr Chiloba to ensure that technology will be an equaliser for all the regions ahead of the 2022 elections.

Ms Halakhe expressed concern that there are areas with no network coverage at all yet some areas are set for an upgrade from 3G to 4G.

“There are places where we thought technology was going to be a tool of inclusion but it has turned out to be a tool of exclusion because it is the same areas that continue to get network coverage while other areas are left out,” Ms Halake said.

In a situational brief issued in September this year, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati told CA to solve the issue of the 3G internet network, which the commission says only covers 83.6 per cent of the country.

However, Mr Chiloba yesterday told senators that 3G network coverage now stands at 97 percent of the country.