Low Internet penetration in rural areas, software issues and computer illiteracy have been cited as some of the reasons that the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) could not use laptops during the controversial general elections last year.

There were issues with the operating system and software to be installed on each laptop, said Ayub Imbira, IT manager at the ECK.

Due to low Internet penetration, the commission had to work with mobile-phone providers Safaricom and Zain to attain connectivity in remote constituencies.

It was impossible to use laptops to conduct elections in the 210 constituencies because most election officials hired were also computer illiterate, and guidelines that they must be literate were not followed during recruitment, Imbira told the Independent Review Commission headed by retired South African judge Johann Kriegler.

The commission's aim was to establish the reason why the ECK abandoned its plan to use 210 laptops after spending 71 days drawing the specifications.

While Imbira advised the ECK to adopt an electronic voting system in October 2006, he said the laptops were originally meant to assist with voter registration and not necessarily with the elections in December.

The controversial elections led to three months of bloody violence after the ECK admitted that it was not sure if President Mwai Kibaki or Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who was vying on an opposition ticket, was the real winner.