OT Morpho offices in Paris, France. The firm has signed a fresh Sh2.4 billion deal with IEBC. [Photo: azadnews.com]Even as opposition NASA continue to protest the technology supplied by French IT firm on August 8 polls, OT-Morpho, it is now clear the company will still be used to provide the same on repeat presidential polls scheduled for October 26.This is after the firm started re-configuring 40,883 KIEMS kits after sealing an additional Sh2.4 billion deal with the Independent Electoral and Commission (IEBC).According to the Monday Star, the fresh agreement with the firm was reached last Thursday night, after days of talks between IEBC and the Paris-based firm.The conclusion of talks and the formal signing of the contract paved the way for the firm to kick off the realignment of the election kits for the October 26 repeat presidential election.The IEBC on Sunday confirmed that the electoral body had entered into another agreement with OT-Morpho, ahead of the election.Communications Manager Andrew Limo has said the deal was reached after a series of meetings with the firm that culminated in an addendum to the contract signed last Thursday evening."The only way to ensure that elections happen as scheduled is to have suppliers of critical infrastructure on board like yesterday. The amount was hinged on the level of support the technology service provider required for the fresh presidential election," Limo said as quoted by the Star.It is reported that the digital firm has hired hundreds of IT technicians who are updating the integrated kits to be deployed, signalling the company's readiness to provide its disputed technology for the repeat polls.The temporary staff 'working in shifts around-the-clock to beat strict timeliness' are based at a secret location in Syokimau, Machakos county.The reconfiguration of the kits is critical for the elections authority planning the fresh presidential poll and entails safe retrieval of data used in last month's elections for safe custody by the commission.The technicians then upload new particulars of the two presidential candidates, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, into the results transmission portal for every kit.They then code the kits with unique identification features different for each of the 40,883 polling stations countrywide to avoid mix-ups, the paper further reports.According to one of the temporary staff hired, the French firm is also doing systems updates for the gadgets, with new and advanced features that will make it impossible for election officials to transmit results without scanned images of declaration forms.

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