Invited guests shun EVMs presentation
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday May 19, 2017 12:21
The opposition parties had made it clear that they will not attend the event since they have a Court case with the IEC for failure to consult the nation on the new IEC amendment Bill. IEC wanted their stakeholders to appreciate how the machine would work when it has paper trail.
IEC official, Dintle Rapoo told the attendants that some people could not make it because the venue was changed.
However, the issues concerning hacking of the machines were not satisfactorily answered by Brahat Electronics Limited (BEL) and the IEC officials.
What disappointed the media, and other stakeholders, most was when the BEL representatives flatly refused even to disclose their names, saying they should just be referred to as “BEL representatives”.
This was despite people saying it will be difficult for them to trust what they were saying because they were not sure if indeed they represented that company or not.
The other issue that made stakeholders to doubt BEL representatives even more was when they claimed that the EVM does not have disadvantages.
The BEL representative however said EVM has one percent failure rate, which he failed to explain further when questioned by different people.
“We brought a machine that was used in Namibia because your IEC wants the same one. I can’t disclose the cost of one machine or disclose the code of the EVM because it is our intellectual property,” BEL representative said. IEC consultant differed with BEL representative that Botswana would use the same machine used by Namibia.
“Ours is going to be different depending on the specification that we had requested,” Seeletso said. However IEC secretary Keireng Zuze said the reason why they had called BEL to make the presentation and showcase EVM with paper trail is because Batswana in different kgotla meetings have called for such.
“Yesterday, they made a similar presentation to Cabinet and we told the Ministers the importance of having paper trail in case the votes have to be counted again. Currently, the IEC’s new amendments do not include paper trail. It is up to Cabinet to find the need for it or not. The IEC cannot force Cabinet to do so. We are not paying BEL to come here to make presentations. They are simply marketing themselves,” Zuze said.
However Mmegi has learnt that the Cabinet is divided on the issue of the paper trail.
“The majority of Cabinet members said if the machines were going to be used, then it (the paper trail) must be included while others felt they did not find the need for it (the machine).
Again, there were those against EVM, but prefer to keep quiet when the matter was discussed,” a source said. The source said the issue of EVM is still being debated in the Botswana Democratic Party, and it has been referred to the party's congress in July.