A proposed law seeking to give the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) full ownership and control of Kenya’s election technology is moving closer to becoming law ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, seeks to end what its proponents regard as gaps in the management, ownership and accessibility of election technology by placing critical election infrastructure firmly under the control of the electoral commission.
At the centre of the proposed changes is a requirement that election servers be hosted within Kenya and remain accessible to authorised parties for verification, scrutiny and auditing.
The proposed law would allow political candidates, courts and other authorised stakeholders to access the election servers for purposes of verifying election information, a move intended to strengthen transparency and confidence in the electoral process.
The Bill also targets the ownership of the technology used during elections.
Private technology companies contracted to supply or manage the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) would be required to grant the IEBC full intellectual property rights over the system.
This would give the commission greater control over the technology and reduce its dependence on private contractors for critical election infrastructure.
The proposed legislation further requires the IEBC to provide election technology and data to authorised stakeholders in soft-copy format free of charge, potentially making it easier for candidates and other interested parties to independently scrutinise election information.
The legislation is rooted in recommendations of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), which identified electoral reforms as part of the measures required to strengthen Kenya’s electoral system.
The Bill has already cleared the Senate and passed through the debate stage in the National Assembly.
It has since been committed to the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) for further consideration before it proceeds to the next stages of the legislative process.
If enacted, the reforms would significantly reshape the relationship between the IEBC and private technology providers, while placing election technology, servers and critical election data more firmly under the commission’s control.
