Kenya's election body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), is looking to intensify the use of the technology in the next general elections scheduled for August 2017.

In the last election, the body suffered setbacks in deployment of technology in identifying voters through the electronic voter identification and relaying provisional results through the electronic results transmission system.

The situation forced some polling stations to revert to the manual system to identify voters and report results, which led to speculation and even allegations of rigging of the polls.

"During the 2013 General Elections, the Commission adopted and deployed five technologies for the first time in managing electoral processes, namely; Biometric Voter Registration (BVR System), Candidates Nomination Software, Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVIDs), Electronic Results Transmission System (RTS) and Electoral Risk Management Software. Some technologies worked while others performed below optimal level," IEBC said while releasing its roadmap plan for the 2017 elections.

The body now plans to audit its own technology and establish their effectiveness, before fully testing systems ahead of the election.

The IEBC stated it will "conduct a nationwide simulation and pilot test for nomination system, electronic voter identification device and results transmission system."

The body will also recruit ICT staff to ensure the systems are managed effectively and do not fail. A backup system to record the results will be put in place to ensure transparency.

Prior to the release of the report, the IEBC was criticised by the opposition coalition, Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), who requested that BVR kits be placed at all polling stations, rather than moving one machine to several stations.

The IEBC has 15,000 BVR kits and there are 33,000 polling stations, meaning some stations might have to rely on manual registration if more kits are not procured.