Tuesday, 12 March 2013

COURT: CORD CASE AGAINST IEBC AND SAFARICOM URGENT



The High Court has certified as urgent an application by CORD seeking to compel Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Safaricom to release documents the alliance needs for to file a petition on the presidential election. Justice Isaac Lenaola certified the application as urgent and directed the petitioner, Eliud Owalo to serve the respondents. The judge directed the case to be heard on Wednesday.

In the petition, Owalo wants the court to order the electoral body and mobile phone service provider to furnish it with documents related to the electronic tallying process in the recent General Election. CORD coalition led by the PM and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka have said they will file a petition challenging the election of President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto. Owalo claims that IEBC and Safaricom have ignored his request for the documents despite requests and his willingness to meet the cost of processing and producing them.

The documents Owalo wants from IEBC include all Forms 34, 35, and 36 from all polling stations and constituencies all over the country in relation to the presidential elections and all the results that were declared electronically at the Bomas Tallying Centre. The petitioner is also seeking the log files for all short messages that were declared electronically received from Safaricom, all software contracts between the IEBC and all firms that provided software services to them in connection with the just concluded general elections. The petitioner also wants the serial numbers of all handheld transmission devises that were actually configured and made ready for use as aforesaid and the constituencies in which they were meant to be used and serial numbers of all handheld transmission devises that were configured and the constituencies in which they were meant to be used.

Other documents include the Green Book, a provisional register of all registered voters, and the final register of all registered voters. Owalo wants the court to compel Safaricom to release the numbers of all handheld transmission devices that were used to electronically transfer date from polling stations to the tallying centre and the print out of all messages that were sent through all handheld transmission devices that were used to electronically transfer data from the polling stations. The petitioner also wants all contracts signed between Safariom and IEBC in connection with the just concluded general election and a record of all information transmitted to IEBC Server on the March 4 and 5 2013.
Wahome Thuku

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