THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is in the eye of a storm
for allegedly courting an Estonian company to roll out an electronic voting
system, which it plans to use in 2023 to allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to
vote.
The system, called Integrated Electronic Case Management
System (IECMS), according to informed sources, will be handled by NetGroup
Estonia, a move that has irked local ICT firms.
“We are always impressed when government is introducing
Information and Communication Technology solutions of our ever-changing
environment. What we don’t understand is why our government chooses
international companies over our own local technologists, who are now
outstripping farming and tourism in terms of GDP [gross domestic product]?” the
Zimbabwe Information and Communication Technologies (ZICT), a subdivision of
The Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers, asked.
“Why is government engaging an Estonia company called
NetGroup Estonia to develop and implement an e-voting system that allows
Zimbabweans based in the diaspora to participate in future national elections?”
Zec, which implemented a biometric voters’ roll for this
year’s eletions, bought its biometric voters’ registration kits from a South
African company based in China, Laxton Group, shelling out over $8 million,
before securing AFIS software from an American company, Ipsidy Inc, ahead of
the July 30 general elections.
The procurement of the e-voting system is reportedly being
handled by Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who was not picking his phone at
the time of going to print last night.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, on the sidelines of the
United Nations General Assembly, met with Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas to
discuss wide-ranging issues, including how Zimbabwe could tap into Estonian
knowledge on e-voting.
Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba confirmed the
meeting to the State-owned media while in the United States.
“Estonia is, in fact, a leader in terms of ICT development
and for Zimbabwe, we looked at three critical areas of ICT co-operation with
Estonia; e-health, e-governance, but more critically, e-voting. You are aware
that we do have a big diaspora community, whose fervent call has been for them
to be given the power to vote, except the logistics of it has been forbidding,”
Charamba said.
Zec vice-chairperson Emmanuel Magade said there was
discussion at the electoral body to adopt the e-voting platform, but a decision
had not yet been reached.
“Let me say that this is a moot point at the moment, which
still has to be discussed at the highest level at Zec. As far as I know, there
is no concrete decision that has been made, but in other countries in the
region like Namibia, e-voting has been adopted successfully,” he said. Newsday
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