Servers were opened, 'reveals' IEBC commissioner Justus Nyangaya

With 77 days to the general elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has revealed that its servers were opened after the hotly-contested 2017 general elections.

Contrary to what politicians have been saying, IEBC commissioner Justus Nyang’aya says the servers were indeed opened.

During an interview with KTN’s Sophia Wanuna, Nyang’aya confirmed that IEBC complied with Supreme Court’s order to open the servers following a successful petition by the Raila-Odinga led NASA.

“I can confirm that indeed our servers were opened for a short time. That was between 2:30 pm and 5 pm before people went to the Supreme Court for the judgement. It is the logs that the Supreme Court asked for and reading logs takes time,” he said.

Below is the full interview:

Nyang’aya also pointed out that looking at a server is not an easy thing for a layman but even for a professional.

“It is not anything that you see, it is like opening the back of a television. If you don't have a trained eye, you won't see what is there,” he said.

The IEBC Commissioner added that they presented the logs to the apex Court judges which nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in the August 2017 election.

On August 28, 2017, the Court ordered IEBC to open servers used in streaming presidential election results and allow two independent Information Technology experts who had been appointed by the court to compile a report on the authenticity of Kenyatta’s victory. The servers were however not opened.

The Supreme Court, by a majority, ordered a repeat presidential poll following IEBC’s failure to open the servers.

Still on matters election, Nyang’aya said the Commission will this week have a report of the audit of the voter’s register promising to weed out dead voters and double ID registers.

“For identification, we will use biometrics,” he said.

“We have had meetings and trainings with many stakeholders including police, the Judiciary and everyone defined in the Elections Act” he added.