ICT firms reap from move to e-voting

Companies dealing in ICT stand to reap huge gains as the country moves towards electronic-based voter registration and voting.

In the just concluded referendum in which Kenyans voted to adopt the new Constitution, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) used electronic registration and voting in 18 constituencies.

The electoral body also used thousands of mobile phones to relay results from polling stations to the national tallying centre at the Bomas of Kenya.

The move earned several suppliers of technology goods and internet services millions of shillings. Nokia, the largest handset manufacturer, supplied IIEC with 18,000 mid-tier mobiles worth Sh38 million, according to documents seen by Business Daily.

Listed telecom firm Safaricom provided 100 megabytes (MB) of data for each of the mobiles, earning it over Sh2 million in the two-day process.

More than 27,000 internet-enabled mobile phones were used in the referendum, signalling more players gained in the process.

Apart from handsets, the IIEC staff used laptops and other peripheral devices to conduct voter registration, voting, and tallying of results.

The electoral body has said it plans to spend about Sh32 billion in a step by step process to build the infrastructure that would see Kenyans vote electronically in 20,000 polling centres around the country by 2012.

“We are exploring some of the best practices globally and locally. In future, a voter should be able to walk into a polling station and place the finger print on a machine and all his or her details are conjured up instantly. With improved connectivity country-wide, this is not a wild dream,” Andrew Limo, an official with the IIEC said in an earlier interview.

This means a huge business opportunity for data service providers and dealers of computers, mobiles, and other technological products that the electoral body will be procuring.

The move towards an electronic-based electoral process is seen as a way of enhancing transparency, in effect boosting confidence among the electorate.

This is set to boost democracy and strengthen key governance institutions.

The usage of technology, for instance, has been cited as a key factor in the general acceptance of the referendum outcome, a move that has boosted the country’s image abroad, with analysts expecting positive ripple effects.

Political environment

With a stable political environment, foreign investors will view Kenya in a positive light leading to more foreign direct investments.

In addition, the country is expected to see its credit rating go up, opening up an opportunity for the government and private the relatively cheaper international debt markets.

The disputed 2007 General Election was a major contributor to the two-year economic decline.

Economic growth dropped from 7.1 per cent in 2007 to 1.7 per cent in 2008 driven by local business disruptions and a crush in the tourism sector.

Tourist arrivals dropped by 270,000 to stand at 729,000 in 2008, while earnings in the sector dropped by Sh11 billion to stand at Sh52.7 billion.