Kenyan Supreme Court retreats to write ruling on election annulment

16 Novembre 2017

Nairobi, Kenya, November 16  (Infosplusgabon) - Kenya's Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court, David Maraga on Thursday announced the finalization of marathon sittings on a challenge to the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta and promised a ruling would be made on 20 Nov on the validity of the elections.

The Supreme Court finalized the hearings with presentation of a report by the petitioners showing an order to access the original documents used to declare the Presidential election results, unearthed massive alteration of figures and the inflation of votes for President Kenyatta.

According to Donald Deya, lawyer for the petitioners, the alterations of the votes were so prevalent that multiples of 100,200,300 and 400 votes were each added to the polling centres through alteration.

Deya also told the Court that returning officers were required by the law to file their handover notes together with the original result forms. However, the results filed by the polling officials were different from the carbon copies. There were similar forms with different results.

Equally puzzling were the results from the devices used to transmit the election results.

According to the lawyers, the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits, which are used to identify the voters electronically, also had false results, including those containing returns from the 8 Aug. elections.

“There are those with results without the opening dates of the polling stations. It shows a remarkable doubt on which kits were used. It shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),” Deya said.

The lawyer representing, petitioners Njonjo Mue and Khalef Khalifa, showed the judges there were no proper evidence on when the results sent to the IEBC were obtained.

Deya said the KIEMS kits, which are used to biologically identify the voters, did also not provide records of transactions. There were no clear transaction records from the location of the KIEMs kits.

During the hearings on Thursday, the Supreme Court judges were surprised when a lawyer appearing for another petitioner, Harun Mwau, told the Court President that Kenyatta’s lawyers had no proper response.

The lawyer, Mark Ouma, said there was no record of a sworn affidavit by a witness, Davis Chirchir, who is President Kenyatta’s chief agent during the 26 Oct repeat election.

Mwau, a former public official and politician who served as an assistant minister before resigning after an accusation by the US government on charges of drug trafficking, has petitioned the election of President Kenyatta on the grounds that the IEBC was required to conduct a nomination.

According to the lawyer, the constitution requires a nomination. A presidential candidate solely nominated is declared President without an election. T

Ouma said it was therefore necessary that the process of nomination be allowed to take place within 60 days before any election.

The lawyers appearing for the first petitioner also argued that the IEBC should have abandoned the election on 26 Oct after the withdrawal of the candidate for the National Super Alliance (NASA), Raila Odinga and his deputy Kalonzo Musyoka.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AAR/ GABON 2017

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