James Orengo explains how IEBC manipulated results in August polls

Raila Odinga’s Lawyer James Orengo has said that there was deceit and manipulation in the August General elections.

“This premeditation was made possible by the attack on the IT structure and system of the electoral commission. The way they dealt with the forms when uploaded and downloaded,” he said.

According Orengo, some forms were staged and deleted, as seen in the affidavits.

“We urge that you nullify the elections on the basis that the second respondent did not attain more than 50 per cent of votes cast,” he said.

He said IEBC is dysfunctional and not capable to preside over an election.

“We have a commission that is divided right in the middle, that speaks to a dysfunctional constitutional body that is not capable of presiding over an election that will give it the legality that the election requires.”

Orengo asserted that the narrative arising from the election-related incidents is in violation of the constitution’s stated clauses.

“This grievance that we place before you is not a conspiracy theory, it is not just any ordinary event,” he said.

“The evidence put before you, what happened and the subsequent events mark a pattern of violations against the constitution in order to undermine the will of the people .”

Orengo said, just like in 2017, IEBC did not preside over the elections as intended by the constitution.

Raila’s legal team lodged a case alleging that a team working for President-elect William Ruto hacked into the election system and replaced genuine pictures of polling station result forms with fake ones, thus increasing Ruto’s votes.

Ruto denied the allegations in an affidavit he submitted to the court.

The IEBC also filed responses, with three commissioners supporting the process and four questioning it.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court laid out eight questions it will answer when it rules on this month’s disputed presidential election result.

The court consolidated all seven petitions challenging the win Ruto into one.

The seven-judge bench hearing the petition includes; Chief Justice Martha Koome, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Judges Ibrahim Mohamed, Isaac Lenaola, William Ouko, Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndungu.