Lands Minister James Orengo who spoke on behalf of the coalition insisted that they wanted their petition to be filed after other organisations lodged theirs, so that the public understands CORD’s grounds well/MIKE KARIUKI
Lands Minister James Orengo who spoke on behalf of the coalition insisted that they wanted their petition to be filed after other organisations lodged theirs, so that the public understands CORD’s grounds well.
He said: “We were ready to file the petition today (Friday), we have since learnt that there are several petitions prepared by other entities and they are being filed today. It is our wish that our petition is not mixed with any other petition that is being filed by other entities.”
“All our documents and affidavits are ready for filing and the reason behind the postponement is purely strategic; it has nothing to do with the content of the petition and accompanying documents,” added Orengo.
Orengo said that he had secured assurance from Chief Justice Willy Mutunga that the Supreme Court registry will be open on Saturday to receive the petition.
CORD had insisted that they were to file the petition on Friday even with frustrations they said they were experiencing from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
He maintained that the alliance had not been able to download forms uploaded on the IEBC website.
“Non-compliance by the IEBC is a violation of the Constitution which gives the citizens rights to information. We are looking for those documents because we are entitled to them and not because it is an exercise in which we are groping in the dark. I have a feeling that this is the most opaque electoral commission in the history of Kenya,” said Orengo on Thursday equating accessing IEBC chairman Issack Hassan to getting through a general in a military camp.
Having taken six days to prepare, Orengo affirmed the CORD legal team had a petition that was not vexatious.
Late on Thursday evening, three voters filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the inclusion of rejected votes in the presidential election tally.
Blogger Dennis Itumbi, TNA strategist Moses Kuria and Florence Sergon want the court to determine if IEBC chairman Issack Hassan was right in using the rejected votes in calculating the percentage each presidential candidate obtained in the final tally.
Lawyer Mansu Issa said that if their argument is accepted by the Supreme Court it could affect the percentage of each of presidential candidate got.
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