The Kenyan Supreme Court Wednesday delivered its full judgment on the nullification of the August 8 presidential election.
The judges castigated IEBC for defying the order to open its system for scrutiny, saying this could have helped the commission debunk Nasa’s claims that its servers were hacked.
The court held IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati responsible for failure to explain why presidential election results were not transmitted in the prescribed manner.
It says IEBC has the responsibility to ensure that the system of voting, counting and tallying of results is verifiable and accurate.
The court said that NASA proved that IEBC declared the presidential winner before receiving all 40,883 Forms 34As and thus used forms with dubious authenticity.
The court further said there is no evidence that President Uhuru Kenyatta used the release of funds for IDPs as a campaign tool to entice voters.
Judges say IEBC must henceforth conduct subsequent elections in conformity to the law, stating that in the repeat presidential poll, IEBC must put in place a complementary system for use when technology fails.
The court says that a random scrutiny of 4,299 Forms 34As showed there were widespread discrepancies.
Majority Ruling
In their September 1 ruling, Chief Justice David Maraga, agreed with Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola that there was a mess in the transmission of results. The
Judges, however, absolved President Uhuru Kenyatta from any blame.
Justices Jackton Ojwang’ and Njoki Ndung’u disagreed stating that Mr Raila Odinga, the petitioner in the case, failed to prove claims that the polls were rigged in favour of President Kenyatta.
The two said the polls were free, fair and credible as described by international observers.
Bad Faith
Justice Ndung’u said challenges are there in every election and if they occurred, they were not deliberate or in bad faith.
The seventh judge, Mohamed Ibrahim, fell sick on the second day of the hearing of the case and did not participate in the final judgment.
“A decision is hereby issued that the elections held on August 8, were not conducted in accordance with the constitution and the applicable law. The results are therefore invalid, null and void,” Justice Maraga had said.
The Judges said the electoral body failed, neglected or refused to conduct the elections in the manner and dictates of the constitution.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has set October 17 as the date for the repeat poll, although the opposition has threatened to boycott the poll if a raft of demands they have made are not met.