Kethi leaves CID headquarters after presenting herself for questioning over voter registration fraud claims. Photo/ MIKE KARIUKI
NAIROBI Kenya, Aug 6 – Lawyer Kethi Kilonzo was questioned by police on Tuesday in the ongoing investigation into a voter registration slip that was allegedly stolen from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Kethi arrived at the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters on Kiambu road in the company of lawyers James Orengo, Harun Ndubi and Julie Soweto.
Addressing journalists after the session with detectives, Orengo said they were given three IEBC documents but said the electoral body had not delivered all the documents they wanted.
“Today in our discourse with the police – 90 percent of the time we were inside – they were preparing for us the documents we wanted. They have photocopied all the documents they had including the booklet that was alleged part of it was lost from the IEBC,” he said.
He added that, “I hope you are not going to say that Miss Kethi Kilonzo was grilled for all these hours, in fact we were grilling the police over what information they have and what they are looking for.”
Some of the information Kethi is demanding from the IEBC includes a record of the voters register, a copy of the booklet used in the elections, records of some specific polling stations and to know how the used registers were distributed.
They also want the information the IEBC used to nullify Kethi’s candidacy for the Makueni mini-poll, in addition to a certified copy of the register of voters with biometrics that was used at the NCC Social Hall, where she claimed to have registered.
“There are very few documents that IEBC has surrendered to the police. The police are willing to give the documents they have which are only three,” he noted.
He complained that the electoral body, “has not given all the documents that we want. By saying they have given all the documents, they are not telling the truth.”
“They must avail all the documents they have at the request of Kethi’s lawyer or any member of the public,” he added.
He revealed that they did not record a statement as the investigations are still in progress and the police lacked the entire record of what they wanted from the IEBC.
The CID are investigating how Kethi obtained a voter’s slip that was removed from the same booklet used to only register former President Mwai Kibaki ahead of the March 4 elections.
According to IEBC, the booklet was not in circulation at the time of the countrywide voter registration exercise.
During hearings before the IEBC Disputes Resolution Committee, Director of Voter Registration and Electoral Operations Immaculate Kassait explained that the slip was stolen and it was not clear how it ended up in Kethi’s possession.
“The Wiper candidate’s slip is not among those distributed anywhere in the country. The booklet where the slip was taken from was used to register the former president, and five others (slips) went missing. The slip held by Kethi is among those missing,” she explained on July 6.
Some IEBC officials have also been grilled in the investigations aimed at establishing how Kethi obtained the slip.
About The Author
