Corporate Affairs
Lion Place Nairobi, Kenya; October,11,2019.
The Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) has re-assured that the information system it deploys in the management of political parties is fool-proof. The Integrated Political Parties Management System (IPPMS), an internally developed system has in its security design an encompassing security features to safeguard its data and manage its use.
The Office stated this position as one of its submissions to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 3rd October 2019 at Parliament buildings. The Registrar Ann Nderitu, noted that the Office continued to review and improve this and other envisaged systems for optimal attainment of their intended purpose. “We have in place a robust and tamper-proof system that has incorporated in its design and management all tenets of information security management”, the Registrar noted.
The system which has been lauded by stakeholders as a pivotal online mechanism was further explained to have well-controlled users’ credentials to mitigate unauthorized access. “We grant user access rights to designated external parties with express guidelines and accountability procedures”, explained the Senior ICT Officer, Bob Waithaka.The ICT Head, also highlighted to the PAC members of soon to be embarked process of engaging relevant government agencies to explore partnership as one of the ways of expanding the scope of the system through available e-platforms such as the e-citizen.
The Registrar further informed of the on-going programme to upgrade the system to incorporate other functionalities. She noted the upgrade is solely informed by a clearly mapped out gaps and stakeholder feedback received in the course use of the system.
The ORPP team appeared to the PAC Committee to present the audited accounts for the ORPP’s financial year 2016/17, which the Office of the Auditor-General had favourably rated as “unqualified” with minor areas of improvement. Other areas of discussion during the meeting centred on administration of Political Parties Fund, party primaries among other election legal reforms.