BY SAM ALFAN.
The people of Kenya had their say but machines had its way. These are the words of activist Khalef Khalifa when took the floor to argue for the nullification of the declaration of William Ruto as the president elect.
Through lawyer Willis Otieno, the activist said that Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) system was compromised even before the election were conducted on August 9.
The lawyer said IEBC’s register had 481,711 persons that had been duplicated a pointer to the fact that the election was already compromised.
“The audit report shows that 638,814 null IDs registered. This could and did affect the results,” said lawyer Otieno.
He told the supreme court that there was lack of transparency in the tallying and verification of the results, contrary to constitution, a move that completely erodes public confidence in the election.
“We cannot focus on the numbers because the process through which those numbers are being arrived at has been compromised,” said Otiono.
He added that all IEBC commissioners should have been involved in tallying and verification of votes for the Presidential election.
He further submited that IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati contradicted himself by first claiming that he was solely responsible for tallying and verification of the presidential results but later said in court that the process was handled by the entire commission.
“The law says that all IEBC commissioners should take part in the process. The power of tallying and verification of results cannot be vested in an individual,” he said.
Lawyer Paul Nyamondi for Youth Advocacy Africa, an NGO said there’s no such position as the ‘returning officer of the presidential election’, and the post was a creation of the chairperson Chebukati.
“There is no such position such as the returning officer of the presidential election,” said Nyamondi.
He submitted that Chebukati’s creation of the position of RO of the Presidential election allowed him to tally and verify presidential election results in a manner contrary to the Constitution, which vests power in the entire electoral commission.
He submitted that It’s admitted that Chebukati excluded other commissioners in tallying and verifying presidential election results adding that tallying and verification of presidential results was exclusively done by Prof. Abdi Guliye, Marjan Hussein Marjan and IEBC Chairman. Not by the IEBC.
He further told Supreme court that IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati gazetted himself without a deputy Returning officer.
“Returning officers are gazetted with deputies. The IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati appointed himself as returning officer of the Presidential election with no deputy,” he submitted.
Lawyer Nyamondi said It is impossible to tell whether the returned candidate garnered 50%+1 because the process by which that finding would have been made did not happen constitutionally.
Lawyer Nyamondi added that move by Chebukati to deploy of commissioners at the National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya was not accidental. “The chairman of IEBC has dealt with election timelines as though they are elastic,” added Nyamondi.
According to lawyer Nyamondi, appointment of the IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan to assist in tallying of presidential results was unlawfully.
