Inside electoral commission’s tallying centre at Bomas

The Bomas of Kenya has been turned into a fortress with military-type security features deployed at virtually every corner of the facility that will be the focus of millions of Kenyans after polls close today at 5pm.

The facility has been gazetted as the National Tallying Centre and had been closed to the public for the last one month for renovations to fit the specifications of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Right from the gate, Bomas has become an access-only place, with those without the IEBC accreditation cards are turned back at the gate.

Cars with no IEBC parking tickets are denied entry at the gate that is manned by five police men and five hired private security guards.

Inside, five more policemen have created a barrier where they confirm the accreditation cards again before one is allowed in.

To get to the auditorium, where IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati will make the all-important announcement of the winner of the General Election, is even harder due to a series of thorough security checks using scanners and hand-held metal detectors by a team of police officers and private guards.

At Bomas, the IEBC will receive the scanned form 34Bs from all constituency returning officers and authenticate them in presence of chief agents.

The team will serialise the forms and pass it to a six-man collation team that will serve the 47 counties and generate Form 34C that will be used in the announcement of the winner before passing it to a validation team.

“The declaration of the presidential results shall be based on the verification that the constitutional threshold has been obtained by the winning candidate,” the IEBC says.

The access cards have been configured with a security chip that allows one to swipe through a grilled gate that has been erected at what used to be the large entrance to the auditorium.

Inside, the IEBC has meticulously planned the 3,000-seater facility for the guests who will be streaming into the auditorium from today when the results start trickling in.

Next to Mr Chebukati and the six other commissioners, who have been isolated and their table and podium raised, will be the presidential candidates, their families and chief agents.

Then there will be observers who will sit next to political party representatives. The commission has also set a state-of-the-art media centre, with at least 50 Internet-enabled computers for journalists.

The media, whom the IEBC has promised a dedicated 24-hour link to its live results, will have their own row and seats where they will be beaming live the events to the millions of Kenyans who will be waiting with bated breath after casting their vote.

There is also space for IEBC guests as well as its officials who will be collating and tallying presidential results.