BY SAM ALFAN.
Four breakaway commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) have insisted that they represent the official position of the electoral body.
Vice chairperson Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi and Irene Masit said their position as the commission is that the results declared on August 15 by Wafula Chebukati are illegal.
The four submitted through Senior Counsel Paul Muite and Issa Mansur urged the court that being the majority of the commission members, their position stands.
SC Muite told Supreme Court judges that it wasn’t true as claimed by Chebukati that the called for a Raila Odinga win or force a re-run.
They said they were not involved in the tallying and verification of the presidential results as required by law as the chairman took over the role by himself.
“The commissioners were not involved in the tallying and verification and in particular regarding the 27 constituencies.”-SC Muite told the supreme court.
SC Muite added that Chebukati appointed himself the presidential returning officer and the results declared were unconstitutional.
Lawyer Mansur submitted that the position of the four commissioners was to deliver a free and fair election.
“In their quest to do what is right, there were problems like a lack of transparency,” he added.
Lawyer Mansur added that here was a lack of transparency and the four commissioners who are being vilified are expected to stand behind the chairman and confirm that a person has been declared the President without following due process.
He submitted that there was lack of transparency in the process as Chebukati made all the decisions.
Lawyer Mansur further questioned why was IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati in a hurry to announce the presidential election results when he had one more day to complete the work?
In his submissions, lawyer Jeremy Njenga told the court that the four commissioners walked out of Bomas of Kenya because they did not want to give legitimacy to a process they were not involved in.
Lawyer Gordon Ogola added his voice saying that Chebukati excluded the other commissioners in the verification of the presidential results.
He submitted that the side-lining of commissioner Masit and others did not start at Bomas, but from when they were re-assigned duties.
Njenga told the court that the presidential election results announced by Chebukati were not legitimate.
He added that the four commissioners eft the national tallying centre at Bomas because they were out to protect the Constitution.
According to lawyer Ogola, during the declaration of the presidential results, the four IEBC commissioners were only given handwritten pieces of paper containing results to announce.
