“We delivered a baby, the baby is alive and well, decline the invitation to stand on the baby.” – Lumumba/MOSES MUOKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 28 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Monday accused Raila Odinga of flailing in his attempt to make the case that the August 8 presidential election was illegitimate; describing his grievances as “petty.”
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati’s legal counsel PLO Lumumba – celebrated for his command of the English language – put it this way: “These are a litany of allegations standing of stilts and will collapse under the weight of the evidence we have provided.”
The Commission, in its response to his petition to the Supreme Court to annul the election, took on one by one, the issues he raised before the Supreme Court.
They stated that contrary to his assertions that the August 8 election was rigged against him, he did not place before the court a single affidavit challenging the election result as contained in the polling station result Forms 34A.
They on the other hand, IEBC submitted, had filed affidavits – where errors were made – in the transposition of results from the Form 34As to the 34Bs for tallying of the constituency level results.
Even so, they submitted, said errors were not significant enough as to have altered the outcome.
They also pointed out that Odinga had failed to provide testimony, in the form of an affidavit, that voters were bribed to vote against him or intimidated to vote against him.
This was in response to Odinga’s submission through his counsel Okongo Omogeni, that Cabinet Secretaries and President Uhuru Kenyatta used intimidation tactics in their campaigns.
IEBC also listed affidavits it had filed to counter Odinga’s assertions that his agents were ejected from various polling stations to clear the way for rigging.
They also attributed the difference in the number of votes cast in the presidential race as compared to those of other elective offices – which Odinga had submitted as proof of rigging – to the fact that voters in the diaspora and prisons only cast their ballots for president and other reasons such as rejected votes.
They also submitted that they were not required to stamp the result forms to authenticate them, only ballots, and clarified that they were not required to base their declaration of the presidential election result on the Forms 34A but B.
They made the distinction in response to Odinga’s assertion that they were not in possession of all the Forms 34A as at the time they declared President Uhuru Kenyatta winner.
IEBC also submitted that there it was not strange that the polling station presidential election results started streaming in as early as just seven minutes after their close given some had as few as three registered; they gave the example of North Horr and Matuga.
Lumumba’s parting remarks were these: “We delivered a baby, the baby is alive and well, decline the invitation to stand on the baby.”
About The Author
