Monday, July 22, 2013

IEBC acts to avert Safaricom exit from poll contract

IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan and chief executive officer James Oswago in this file photo. During a meeting with editors in July 22, 2013 at a Nairobi hotel IEBC chief executive officer, Mr James Oswago said a technical team had been formed to negotiate with Safaricom, saying the commission was confident the equipment would not fail.
IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan and chief executive officer James Oswago. During a meeting with editors in July 22, 2013 at a Nairobi hotel IEBC chief executive officer, Mr James Oswago said a technical team had been formed to negotiate with Safaricom, saying the commission was confident the equipment would not fail.   NATION MEDIA GROUP
By JOHN NJAGI jnjagi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, July 22  2013 at  13:44
The electoral commission has formed a technical team to negotiate with Safaricom, after the latter pulled out of a contract for live transmission of results for the Makueni by-election.
Leading mobile provider Safaricom announced it had pulled out of the deal with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) over confidence issues with the level of preparedness of the commission for the Makueni senatorial by-election.
The service provider rendered its services during the March 4 General Election when the electronic system that relied on its network collapsed after only partially completing its work.
The collapse of the electronic transmission system and the electronic voter identification system was one of the contributors to a drop in confidence by public of the electoral body.
However, during a meeting with editors at a Nairobi hotel IEBC chief executive officer, Mr James Oswago said a technical team had been formed to negotiate with Safaricom, saying the commission was confident the equipment would not fail.
“We designed the system ourselves and it was not bound to fail. The system is working and we expect a technical team set up to work with Safaricom, will ensure the company comes on board,” he said.

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