Caroline Rwenji And Sam Kiplagat
14 May 2008
Nairobi — A Nairobi court will on Wednesday morning open 178 ballot boxes from Makadara constituency to verify their contents.
This should have been done on Tuesday but it was postponed when it was realised that the returning officer had not brought the ballot box seals to replace the ones broken when the boxes were opened.
Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh on Tuesday gave the orders to have the ballot boxes opened.
She said the exercise was meant to merely check the documents in the boxes, not to scrutinise them.
The orders were issued after the Makadara member of Parliament Dick Wathika made an application for the documents to be produced in court.
Verification
The MP said rule 19 of the Elections Petition Act says that specific documents should be brought to court 48 hours before a petition hearing starts.
He asked Lady Justice Wendoh to allow the verification of the documents.
A former Makadara MP, Mr Reuben Ndolo, has filed a petition challenging the election of Mr Wathika as the area MP.
Mr Ndolo says the Makadara election was marred by irregularities and wants the court to declare the results null and void.
Meanwhile, a petitioner has blamed the Electoral Commission of Kenya for losing a parliamentary seat.
Mr Mohammed Sirat, who lost in Wajir South, said the ECK moved some polling stations without informing locals and candidates.
Mr Sirat of ODM-K, lost to Kanu's Abdirahman Al-Hassan.
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