A Mombasa teenager has stunned many with an innovation he
hopes will solve the technology hitches that marred the recently held general
elections.
Fourteen year-old Ahmed Lukman has developed a Voting App,
which if successful, will enable Kenyans vote from wherever they are.
The application uses fingerprint recognition and
identification number to identify prospective voters. It gives real-time
tallying of results for every candidate.
The Aga Khan High School Form One student believes his App
will improve the way future elections are conducted in the country.
“I am showcasing the Voting App. This application will help
people vote from wherever they are. It will curb rigging and reduce time and
energy used in the voting process,” Lukman told the audience at The Tech Kidz
Expo 2017 held in Mombasa on Monday.
The bungled elections gave the Form One student food for
thought on what he could do to improve the voter turnout numbers and the
swiftness of the voting process on election day.
“I was critically thinking of something which would help put
my IT Skills to use. During the campaigns, I formulated a plan and started
working on it in July,” said Lukman.
Prospective voters using the Voting App must first create
accounts using personal details such as email addresses and password which
they will use to log in.
Every successful account created prompts a notification to
the user.
The App welcomes users with an interface that has tabs for
candidates lists, voter information, the districts, polling station and
election date.
A tap on the candidates list takes you to a list of
candidates for different seats such as President, Governor, Senator, Member of
Parliament, Woman Rep and Ward Representative.
When you select President, it displays all the candidates
vying for presidential seat including the number of votes received so far at
that particular time.
Users can only vote once for a candidate in each category.
The 14 year-old has integrated his love for IT and skills
acquired at the Tech Kidz training to successfully develop the application.
His mother Intisar Alammary said Lukman’s love for
technology started at a tender age with his inspiration drawn from his uncle
who is also an IT person.
“His interest has grown from when he was four years old.
Then he would operate a computer and play games on it. He loved being around my
brother who is skilled in information technology. That must have inspired him
,”she said .
Lukman hopes his efforts will be recognized and put to
practice during the next cycle of elections.
“The Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission can link up to my project for it to be
implemented in Kenya. I also ask for their support in improving it to come up
with a finger print sensor which will help in identification and verification,”
he told journalists.
“After my high school, I want to go and work at the Silicon
Valley. It is my dream. I would also be very happy if I meet Bill Gates,” said
Lukman.
Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir who graced the event appreciated
the efforts by the children and invited IEBC to check out Lukman’s work.
“Chebukati should see these. Thanks to all of the people who
made these possible. With the permission of the parents, the kids will be
guests at the parliament to showcase their activities,” he said.
