Chebukati used son to test the election kits



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Details emerged about how the kits used, and by extension the general election of last year, could have been compromised.

Correspondence between the President of IEBC Chebukati and Safran Morpho, the Kenya Integrated Electoral Management System (KIEMS) providers how the kit was delivered to a third party for review less than two weeks after the elections very disputed.

Chebukati, who disagreed with half of the commissioners at the time, ignored the official advice of the commission's computer experts and made the decision. kit with pbadwords to "a personal consultant" to test their effectiveness.

After the personal consultant – who is believed to be his son – completed his audit, he wrote a report that raised a number of issues in the elections

Read: KIEMS kits identified 7.5m voters , OT Morpho said IEBC

Chebukati pointed out several "potential ways the kits may fail or be designed to fail," including rebootin g the EVID kit "in recovery mode without any special permission or notification on the platform of monitoring "

" In recovery mode, an individual with physical access to the device can – among other things – reset the default EVID "

Most importantly, the President also discussed the possibility that An "EVID kit can scan multiple QR codes for transmission of results and recognize them."

"This implies that a kit can transmit results on behalf of another office of v ote, "he observed.

Without knowing it from his fellow commissioners and the secretary of the Ezra Chiloba commission, he wrote to Safran Morpho 24 hours to answer questions. "Concrete Suggestions on How to Relieve and / or Eliminate Concerns".

He wrote: "The results were obtained through preliminary testing of the kit by an independent body in less than a day.Other tests are still in progress.The results can be reproduced without special permission and may cause the kits to fail on polling day. "

" I insist that you answer these questions with concrete suggestions on how to mitigate and / or d & # 39; eliminate the concerns raised, and then we can meet to discuss the proposals, "Chebukati said in an email dated July 24.

He reminded Safran that the commission relied on the EVID kits for the elections and that "all deficiencies should be corrected as soon as possible".

Safran declined Chebukati's application pending the disclosure of the name of the independent body that conducted the tests and the process followed.

See also: IEBC allows candidates in the presidential election to access the server

More specifically, Safran asked the following question: Where did the candidates come from? kits? What was the environment for the tests? What was the test procedure? Who supervised the tests?

The President did not answer the questions above. he had every right to know because "as president of the IEBC, the responsibility for the management of elections in Kenya is on my shoulders."

In addition, he added, "I am head Commission which consists of six Commissioners. The CEO is the secretary of the commission. I am also the national director of presidential elections. In this respect, I must know everything about elections. It's a duty I have to make under the Constitution and laws of Kenya. "

" I will not give for the moment details about the procedure adopted and the test control issues or even the details of the environment this one. Incase I do not hear from you; I will then submit the question to the commissioners for an open discussion, "said Chebukati in an email to Safran Morpho on July 25.

The president insisted that the tests were done by his personal consultant in his presence and threatened to share the findings with the commission if Safran does not respond within 24 hours

More on this topic: OT-Morpho starts formatting IEBC kits in a new Sh2bn deal

More details: Comment from Expert: Chebukati's decision is not illegal

did not disclose the name of the consultant – whom he called his parent – to the commission, but he previously wanted his son , who was studying in the United States, is attached to the ICT department, but the son has

"The KIEMS kit was more or less a national security badet When the IEBC president entrusted this kit to his personal consultant for your ts, with whom did he consult? ? "Chebukati did not respond to calls and messages from the Star, but the commission's communications officer, Andrew Limo, responded with a defensive text message

" The President has the liberty to consult n & # 39; whoever on any subject. . Secondly, the Commission sitting in Bomas at a joint meeting with Morpho discussed the issues raised and a way forward was agreed, "said Mr Limo

. In the case of the 2017 elections, the law required that all applicable technology be tested months before being deployed.

Some of the technology companies involved in the KIEMS project reportedly expressed shock at the time of the conduct of some IEBC officials.

It is said that there has been too much time trying to reach consensus even on obvious issues. Due to delays in decision-making, there was pressure on suppliers, particularly to ensure that all relevant security measures were in place to ensure that KIEMS was not compromised.

"The president should have made an official request for badurances of KIEMS security from his officers, and a proper briefing would be organized, and if the president did take the kit without disclosing it, he must be something wrong, "said a senior IEBC official yesterday under cover of anonymity. Service moved in to monitor all developments. Commissioners were informed that all matters relating to KIEMS were a national security concern and should be treated with great care.

NIS also raised the issue of abuse of office and breach of trust by the president. sensitive information processing only from trusted staff of the IEBC.

Secondly, Vice President Consolata Nkatha was reportedly confronted by the President regarding his secret dealings with Safran Morpho. "She got information from a third party." Her concern at the time was whether the fact that the president was not disclosed would jeopardize the elections, said an IEBC official. at the Star.

See also: Uhuru reelected to 98%, according to the IEBC Click here for the latest political news

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