[Kipsang Joseph, Standard]Election servers should be hosted in Kenya, according to a new regulation that also gives the government more control over the management of all election data. In the 2017 election, Kenya tried its hand in digital and physical counting of votes, a hybrid that elicited huge controversy that culminated with the Supreme Court nullifying the presidential election results. In the lengthy court proceedings that followed, the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was hard-pressed to open the servers and allow the opposition access to data on the exercise. But the new Data Protection (General) Regulations, 2021 currently awaiting public participation, requires that any company handling election data must host the servers and data centres locally in Kenya. if using simple SaaS-services as calendar tools), but also physically on servers in Kenya,” the firm noted.

Source: Standard Digital April 24, 2021 09:11 UTC