The hearing of the presidential petition kicked off at the Supreme Court in Nairobi on Wednesday, August 31, with the lawyers of the main petitioner Raila Odinga taking to the stage to poke holes into the August 9 poll.
The court has consolidated seven cases challenging the declaration of Kenya Kwanza Alliance leader William Ruto as the winner of the election by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Raila and his running mate Martha Karua are being represented, in the hearing by a team of four lawyers led by Senior Counsel James Orengo.
The court yesterday gave both the Azimio and Kenya Kwanza lawyers three hours to present their cases before the court.
On Wednesday, Orengo said each of the Azimio lawyers had been assigned a number of issues to handle from the nine that were identified by the court for determination.
Senior Counsel Philip Murgor (Issues 1, 2 & part of 3)
- Whether the technology deployed by the IEBC for the conduct of the 2022 general elections met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security and transparency to guarantee accurate and verifiable results
- Whether there was interference with the uploading and transmission of Forms 34A from the polling stations to the IEBC Public Portal
- Whether there was a difference between Forms 34A uploaded on the IEBC Public Portal and the Forms 34A received at the National Tallying Centre, and Forms 34A issued to the Agents at the Polling Stations.
Lawyer Julie Soweto (Issues 3, 4 & 5)
- Whether there was a difference between Forms 34A uploaded on the IEBC Public Portal and the Forms 34A received at the National Tallying Centre, and Forms 34A issued to the Agents at the Polling Stations.
- Whether the postponement of Gubernatorial Elections in Kakamega and Mombasa Counties, Parliamentary elections in Kitui Rural, Kacheliba Rongai and Pokot South Constituencies and electoral wards in Nyaki West in North Imenti Constituency and Kwa Njenga in Embakasi South Constituency resulted in voter suppression to the detriment of the Petitioners in Petition No. E005 of 2022.
- Whether there were unexplainable discrepancies between the votes cast for presidential candidates and other elective positions.
Paul Mwangi (Issue 6)
- Whether the IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with Article 138 (3) (c) and 138 (10) of the Constitution. He will be assisted by lawyer Paul Mwangi.
Senior Counsel James Orengo (Issue 7)
- Whether the declared President-elect attained 50%+1 vote of all the votes cast in accordance with Article 138 (4) of the Constitution.
Senior Counsel Pheroze Nowrojee (Issues 8 & 9)
- Whether there were irregularities and illegalities of such magnitude as to affect the final result of the Presidential Election.
- What reliefs and orders can the Court grant/issue?
Raila and Karua have sought over 20 reliefs, among them nullification of the results announced by Chebukati. They also want IEBC to be directed to tally and verify the results and declare the two of them as President and Deputy President-elect.
The coalition has also attached affidavits by former Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo alleging that rogue techies were granted access to IEBC systems and manipulated form 34As from the polling stations. His sworn testimony claims this was done to favour Ruto.
