Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi told the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on August 16 that any technology bought for the 2027 General Election must let Kenyan courts open the servers, logs and audit trails. He spoke at ACK Mukuria Hungu church in Murang’a one day after national coverage of the Sh12.7 billion tenders and five days after IEBC floated the bids.
The warning lands while the commission races toward a September 1 close on contracts that could again place critical election data behind a foreign vendor’s intellectual property claim.
The Tender That Opened Old Wounds
On August 11 IEBC published two major international tenders. One covers supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance of the Integrated Elections Management System, hardware and accessories. The second covers ballot papers, tactile folders, the voter register and statutory result forms.
The technology package carries an estimated Sh10 billion price tag. Ballots and related materials sit at Sh2.7 billion. Bid securities stand at Sh30 million for the KIEMS/IEMS work and Sh40 million for ballots. Both close September 1, 2026.
| Tender | Reference | Estimated Value | Bid Security | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IEMS / KIEMS system and hardware | IEBC/OIT/01/2026-2027 | Sh10 billion | Sh30 million | 1 Sep 2026, 10am |
| Ballots, register, forms | IEBC/OIT/02/2026-2027 | Sh2.7 billion | Sh40 million | 1 Sep 2026, noon |
Acting CEO Ruth Kulundu said evaluation would start within a week of closure and that the process would stay “above board.” Yet the documents themselves quickly drew fire. Kenyan firm Galadirel Investment Limited filed a challenge at the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board, arguing the specifications are vague, the contract value is undisclosed despite the security demand, and the rules appear tailored for foreign suppliers.
IEBC chair Erastus Ethekon’s commission faces the same pressure that has followed every major election tech buy since 2017: deliver working kits on time while convincing the public the system can be examined when results are disputed.
What Muturi Wants Written into the Contract
Muturi, a former Attorney-General and National Assembly Speaker, framed the issue as a voter right. “We want the rights of every voter to be protected. Conduct a transparent and verifiable process,” he said. He wants every ballot traceable from polling station to final tally and enough technical evidence for any court challenge.
- Issue an immediate addendum requiring the winning vendor to guarantee lawful access to servers, system logs, audit trails and user-access records.
- Ensure Kenyan courts and authorised institutions can examine the technology without a vendor veto based on intellectual property.
- Protect legitimate IP claims while preventing those claims from blocking proof of whether an election was properly run.
- Reject any arrangement that leaves a foreign company holding Kenyan voter data and able to refuse access when asked.
“You cannot have a situation where a foreign company has the data of all Kenyans and, when asked to open the system, says no. That kind of contract we cannot accept,” Muturi said. He linked the demand directly to the 2022 petition experience and to unfinished NADCO reforms.
How Smartmatic Drew the Line in 2022
Smartmatic supplied the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System kits and results transmission software for the August 2022 polls. After Raila Odinga’s petition reached the Supreme Court, the court ordered scrutiny of the electoral system. Smartmatic refused full access.
As per your request regarding the provision of image of NTC server(s), we would like to clarify that such images contain software owned and copyrighted by Smartmatic and is thus IP protected. Providing full access would infringe our intellectual property rights.
The letter, signed by managing director F. Gunnik and dated 31 August 2022, also warned that handing over source code, transmission certificates or encryption keys would make the system insecure for future use in Kenya or elsewhere. The firm offered corrected results data, transmission logs and supervised access at Anniversary Towers instead.
That refusal became the reference point for Muturi’s speech. The Smartmatic letter citing intellectual property rights turned a technical dispute into a sovereignty argument: who ultimately controls the evidence of how Kenyans voted?
Smartmatic later published its own company case study on Kenya 2022 deployment, stressing audit trails and real-time public tallies. Opposition figures and Muturi’s Democratic Party treat the episode as proof that proprietary claims can override court orders when the contract language allows it.
Local Bidders Push Back Against Foreign Lock-In
Galadirel’s challenge is not isolated. Opposition voices, including Kalonzo Musyoka, have repeatedly told IEBC to keep Smartmatic out of 2027 work. Muturi himself warned months earlier that continued engagement with the firm would trigger nationwide protests. On X and in public meetings the same themes recur: after 2017 and 2022, trust in who programs the kits and who holds the keys is thin.
The numbers behind the worry are large. Registered voters are projected to climb from roughly 22 million in 2022 to 28 million by 2027. Polling stations are expected to rise from 46,229 to 55,393. The Sh10 billion technology tender is meant to replace 45,353 kits judged obsolete and add contingency units. Data hosting location, offline biometric fallbacks and source-code access all remain contested.
Sh12.7 billion total for the two big packages. Sh30 million security just to bid on the technology. September 1 deadline. These figures concentrate power in whoever wins and in whatever IP clause the contract contains.
NADCO Reforms Collide with the Tender Clock
Muturi tied his call to the National Dialogue Committee work that followed the 2022 dispute. The committee proposed reforms to strengthen electoral justice. One concrete track produced a bill amending section 44(1) of the Elections Act for greater technology accountability. The Senate passed it in December 2024 and sent it to the National Assembly in February 2025. Muturi urged the Assembly to finish the job and IEBC to write the same principles into the current tenders.
He called it contradictory to pursue those reforms and then sign contracts that recreate the verification barrier. The full National Dialogue Committee report on electoral reforms sits as the reference document for that unfinished agenda.
- November 2023, NADCO report finalised with electoral justice recommendations.
- December 2024, Senate passes Elections Act amendment on technology accountability.
- February 2025, Bill reaches National Assembly.
- 11 August 2026, IEBC floats Sh12.7 billion tenders.
- 16 August 2026, Muturi demands addendum for court access before awards.
With less than three weeks to the tender deadline when Muturi spoke, the practical question is whether IEBC will issue the addendum or proceed on the existing terms.
Ballot Printing and the Foreign-Firm Pattern
Muturi also criticised foreign involvement in ballot printing, pointing to tax-compliance questions around the Greek firm that handled papers in earlier cycles. Inform P. Lykos supplied ballots for 2022. Local printers have protested high barriers in the new tender that they say favour established foreign suppliers. The pattern Muturi described is consistent: critical materials and systems controlled by entities outside direct Kenyan institutional reach when disputes arise.
IEBC has defended the open international process as necessary for scale and security features. Stakeholders such as ELOG coordinator Mule Musau have answered that contracts must still be “public-friendly” and open to stakeholder interrogation. Price, reputation of the vendor, and the presence of usable audit trails all matter, he said.
Courts and Voters Still Need the Trail
The Supreme Court scrutiny order in 2022 exposed the gap between paper results and the digital systems that move them. Muturi’s speech returns to the same point: an election is only as strong as the evidence that can be produced when someone challenges it. He wants the successful provider to hand IEBC ownership of the intellectual property rights over the KIEMS kits so the commission, not the vendor, decides access.
That demand sits inside a wider set of 2027 cost pressures. Beyond the technology and ballots, IEBC faces Sh5.2 billion for polling staff, Sh4.8 billion for logistics, Sh2.7 billion for voter registration and verification, and further sums for infrastructure, civic education and fleet. The technology piece remains the one most likely to determine whether a petition can be resolved on technical evidence or stalls on a proprietary wall.
The IEBC open international tenders for IEMS remain live. Muturi’s addendum request is public. Galadirel’s challenge is before the review board. Opposition parties continue to flag Smartmatic. The next weeks will show whether the procurement documents change or whether Kenya heads into August 2027 with the same verification architecture that limited court access four years earlier.
Muturi closed with a simple standard: “We want an election that is credible, free, fair and verifiable.” The contracts signed this autumn will decide how much of that standard is enforceable in a courtroom.
