This gives a clear picture of our situation
'.....But in a way, that “independence” ensures freedom from rigorous scrutiny, and so can act as a cover for corruption perpetrated by the electoral commission itself. It’s especially acute when biometric systems are involved, because they cost so much per voter.

In established democracies, elections cost an average of $1 to $3 per head, says this article by journalist Michaela Wrong. But introducing biometrics into the system – coupled with the notoriously poor infrastructure in much of Africa – sends the bill skyrocketing.

In Kenya’s 2013 election, with a final bill of over $200 million, the polls cost $20 per voter, and in Cote d’Ivoire, the last election was $44 per voter....'

BVR is not pre-rigged. Its just that in a clean, transparent process of one man one vote, the voter will choose the better option. In our case, NASA.

Its interesting that every jubilee commentator is talking the same language, "technology can fail".

From NASA we do not want suspicious turnouts even in our strongholds. We want BVR to identify voters even in Bondo. We want IEBC to announce by 5pm how many people voted in Bondo constituency even before the votes are counted. If the RO announces a different figure, we want him arrested and charged with an election offence. We want to win this fair and clean. Because we know we can and we will.

If only we can hear this from Jubilee.

@wazuaguest, why don't we use Ghana's 2016 election as a case study. BVR registered 99% success. The credibility of the election was such that there was no petition at the supreme court.

Cost per voter - $5.

But the cost of a botched electoral process will make the $200M look like pocket change.

What irks me is this defeatist attitude, that even after spending all this money, it is okay for IEBC not to deliver because....."technology fails"

We all saw what happened with the kits in 2013 and it would be stupid not to put in place contingency measures. Did I hear that NASA wanted elections suspended at a polling station until a faulty bvr kit is repaired, even if it takes 1 week to repair?

2013 is a very bad example to rely on. The kits didn't fail. The IEBC management failed.

Some of the reasons were simply ridiculous. Most Presiding Officers were seeing the kits for the first time that morning. Most didn't have passwords. Most kits were not charged and they were deployed in areas without power. No dry-run had been done before. No training had been done. In short the failure was deliberate.

I actually hope James Oswago will eventually be found guilty and thrown to jail.

To its credit, the IEBC this time has tried. They have promised to start testing the technology from next week. They have provided back-up batteries for every kit guaranteeing at least 24 hours power. They are training their people on how to use the kits. Every kit will only be identifying not more than 700 voters.

With all this preparation, if the kits work during the test runs, why would they "refuse" to work on 8th Aug 2017. Should we expect 100% success on D-day ? Highly unlikely. But where do we draw the line between unavoidable failures and deliberate sabotage ?

NASA wanted to eliminate any room for mischief.

99% is not good enough, it must ensure 100% success. Otherwise the affected 1% must not be disenfranchised because of some stupid gadget/technology. Can you imagine the chaos where 410 polling stations (i.e 1% of kenyas 41000 polling stations) are grounded because the kits failed?[/quote]

Actually 99% is very good. Make that exceptional. The remaining 1% will be identified by an alternative process already anchored in the amended elections act.

The key thing here is to make sure those cases where BVR fails are not deliberate.

Can you imagine if 50 polling stations in Bondo report massive BVR failure ? Even I would rather kirudiwo. I hope we can look beyond 2017.

If we leave these loopholes unsealed, there is a shrewd protagonist angling for the 2022 polls who can take us back 20 years. Sly, cunning and ruthless with only one goal. State capture for personal enrichment.

Can see you are a sharp guy. Like our people say, "Mundu mugi ndaari miheere ya uhoro"

From what IEBC is explaining, incidences where the kit fails to identify the voter are supposed to be very few or none at all.

The alternative process is crazy. A specific form will have to be filled for each case where the KIEMS system fails to identify you as a voter. Then all party agents are summoned to the desk by the presiding officer. A search for your name is done still on the system. If they are in agreement, you are allowed to vote.

At the end of the day, the presiding officer has to file a return of the cases where electronic identification failed.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that IEBC is working on the assumption that these cases will be vey few.

In the event of a kit not working, the have pledged to have another delivered within 1 hour.

I am really hoping and praying that IEBC succeeds.

As a NASA supporter, if I were to make a choice between Rao losing in a clean election or winning in a disputed one, I would rather we lose any day.