Muturi demands mandatory election technology disclosure as required by the Supreme Court

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 16 — Former Attorney General and National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has called for mandatory disclosure of election technology by IEBC vendors, saying procurement rules must be aligned with Supreme Court guidelines requiring electoral systems to remain open to lawful scrutiny and verification.

The Democratic Party leader said no technology provider should be allowed to invoke intellectual-property rights to restrict authorised access to systems, servers, logs and audit trails required to establish the integrity of election results.

His proposal comes as the IEBC begins fresh procurement of election technology ahead of the 2027 General Election, putting renewed focus on transparency and verifiability in the systems that will underpin the polls.

“Intellectual property cannot be unconditional where public elections are concerned. A vendor cannot be allowed to hide behind proprietary rights when Kenyans, authorised institutions or the courts need to establish whether an electoral system functioned properly,” Muturi said in a statement on Sunday.

He said every technology vendor should accept, before being awarded an electoral contract, that relevant system logs, servers, audit trails and other technical records will be available for lawful scrutiny by the IEBC, authorised auditors, independent experts, investigative institutions and the Judiciary.

The proposal builds on Muturi’s broader campaign for electoral integrity, including his calls for a forensic audit of the population and identity-management systems, a freeze on changes to the voter register pending such an audit and an independent review of sensitive electoral procurement.

Muturi demands freeze on voter register changes pending population audit

It also follows his concerns over the 2022 presidential election, when access to IEBC servers and election technology became a significant issue in the presidential petition.

The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the petitions challenging William Ruto’s election, but its proceedings included orders allowing scrutiny of election technology and servers.