Blow to Azimio As Smartmatic International Denies Odinga Access to Servers

According to a letter dated 31st August, the firm stated that the scrutiny would infringe its intellectual property rights and would also "jeopardize elections in other countries".

This comes barely two days after the electoral agency had agreed to grant Mr. Odinga access to its servers after his lawyer James Orengo alleged that it had blocked the presidential candidate from doing so despite a court order.

The Firm, through its managing director F. Gunnick, stated in a letter to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that the commission's request could not be honored because it was covered by intellectual property.

The company explained that such pictures contain software that is owned and copyrighted by Smartmatic and is, therefore, IP protected. The company stated that the request in the letter was for the provision of an image of NTC Server(s).

“Providing full access would infringe our intellectual property rights,” the letter read in part.

“Providing third parties access to our source code, and security features including transmission certificates and encrypted keys would render the system insecure – as it is today – for any future use in Kenya or anywhere else in the world. In addition to violating our IP rights, this would also jeopardize elections in other countries that are using or have used our systems.”

President-Elect William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga.

Additionally, as the information would be adequate to thoroughly audit the Results Transmission System and confirm that it operated as intended, the company requests that IEBC give them all acquired data regarding the Results and Transmission System as well as all Results Transmission System logs.

In relation to Smartmatic, all physical tally reports were available online in real-time since election night.