Nairobi — The Supreme Court has ruled that the four IEBC commissioners who distanced themselves from the outcome of the August 9 presidential election results did not provide any evidence of results tampering.
Chief Justice Martha Koome, while delivering the final judgment on the consolidated presidential election petition challenging President-Elect William Ruto's win, said the bench had taken cognizance that the four commissioners actively participated in the tallying and verification exercise from the beginning until just before the declaration of the results by the Chairperson.
"We note that aside from their 11th-hour walkout, the four commissioners have not placed before this court any document to show the result of the election was altered," she said.
While affirming that the power to tally and verify elections rests on the electoral agency and not exclusively the Chairperson, the court noted Wafula Chebukati demonstrated the involvement of colleague commissioners .
"We find that the power to verify and tally presidential election results vest, not in the IEBC chairperson but the commission. We also find that the chairperson cannot arrogate the power to tally and verify the results to the Elections Act to the exclusion of other members of the commission," she added.
On August 15, as IEBC prepared to release the final presidential results, four of the seven commissioners of the IEBC addressed a press conference from the Serena Hotel and disowned the yet to be announced results.
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"We have done the 2022 general elections in the most effective and efficient manner and ensured all the challenges have been contained but some things need to be put out there," said Juliana Cherera, IEBC's Vice Chairperson who was accompanied by Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang'aya and Irene Masit.
"We are rejecting the results the Chairman is about to announce at the Bomas of Kenya due to the opaqueness of the process during the final phase," she said.
Cherera's statement followed press conference by the Saitabao Kanchory, the Chief Agent of Azimio Presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who cited irregularities in the election and vowed to challenge the outcome.
"As we speak right now we do not know what the chairman is doing with those results, we have had concerns, particularly about the integrity of the IEBC technology and server," she claimed.
