IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati Moves Back to the Supreme Court

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati has moved back to the Supreme Court to get clarification regarding verification of election results forms.

While the Appellate Court in the Maina Kiai case ruled that results declared at the polling station are final, Chebukati argues that there is a contradiction in his role, since the Supreme Court, which overturned the Presidential election, faulted him for failing to verify electoral forms from all polling stations before declaring the final results.

“Arising from the judgment of this Honourable Court, I am now unclear as to what as the returning officer for the presidential election I am supposed to do in view of the clear prohibition at page 39 of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the Maina Kiai case barring me from “varying, confirming, altering, modifying or adjusting the results,” Mr Chebukati says in an affidavit filed at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Chebukati, therefore, wants the apex court to ‘complete the lacuna in its direction”, saying it is important before conducting the fresh poll slated for October 26th.

“The failure by the 1st Respondent to verify the results in consultation with the 2nd Respondent, before the latter declared them, therefore went against the expectation of Article 138 (3) (c) of the Constitution…we find little or nothing in this decision [Maina Kiai] to suggest that, by deciding the way it did, the appellate court restrained or barred the 1st Respondent from verifying the results before declaring them,” the Supreme Court said in its 4-2 majority judgment read on September 1st.