Commissioners: We weren’t involved in tallying, verification of votes
Senior Counsel Paul Muite, the lead lawyer for the four dissenting IEBC commissioners who want the Supreme Court to nullify the August 9 presidential election results on account that they did not meet the requirements of the law and the Constitution.
Four dissenting commissioners at the polls body want the Supreme Court to nullify the August 9 presidential election results on account that they did not meet the requirements of the law and the Constitution.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice-Chairperson Juliana Cherera and commissioners Justus Nyangaya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi told the court through their lawyers that they were blocked by Chairman Wafula Chebukati from verifying and tallying the results.
Senior Counsel Paul Muite, the lead lawyer for the four commissioners, accused Mr Chebukati of running the commission as a one-man show.
Walkout
He defended the commissioners’ decision to walk out of the national tallying centre at the Bomas of Kenya on August 15 after they learned that Mr Chebukati would declare Deputy President William Ruto as the winner.
“The narrative of the four commissioners is that they were not involved in the verification and tallying of the results. They were demanding their rights,” Mr Muite said. “They wanted to be involved in the decision-making. A narrative was that they wanted to force a runoff but it is the exact opposite. They wanted to know whether the candidate had garnered 50 per cent plus one.”
Mr Muite took issue with Mr Chebukati for “appointing himself as the returning officer of the presidential election and elevating commission CEO Hussein Marjan above the four commissioners”.
No minutes for appointment
“There are no minutes supporting the appointment of Mr Chebukati as the returning officer and the results announced were not verified. The work of the CEO is to implement the decisions of the commission and not to be a commissioner,” he added. Mr Apollo Mboya, appearing for Ms Cherera, noted that Mr Chebukati’s actions did not abide by the oath of office he took.
“If it was his responsibility alone to verify and tally the results, what were the other commissioners supposed to do?” Mr Mboya wondered.
“The sum total of all these transactions is that the chair usurped the powers of the commission. The chair was an agent of the presidential candidate whose name will be known on September 5,” added Mr Mboya.
Mr Nyang’aya’s sworn affidavit indicates a Mr Godino Omar as the technical deployment lead at Smartmatic, a company that was contracted by IEBC to maintain election kits.
“He was to monitor (and ensure) the system was running well at all times. Did IEBC gazette Omar as the person to access the commission server?” Mr Nyang’aya posed. A replying affidavit from Mr Chebukati appears only keen to know how Mr Nyang’aya got the information.
Mr Jotham Arua, who is representing Commissioner Nyang’aya in the hearing, alleged interference in loading forms 34A in the IEBC presidential election results portal.
