IEBC, Cord ordered to agree on documents
The head of Cord presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s secretariat Eliud Owalo addresses the press at Milimani Courts in Nairobi March 12, 2013 after filing a case to compel Safaricom and IEBC to provide them with information to aid its election petition. The court has ordered IEBC and Cord to agree on modalities of accessing the documents. BILLY MUTAI
The High Court has ordered the electoral commission lawyers to discuss ways of providing documents demanded by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord).
Justice Isaac Lenaola directed IEBC and Cord lawyers to appear in court at 11.30 am after reaching agreement.
Cord is represented by Jotham Arua, Peter Kaluma, Anyang' Nyong'o, Eliud Owalo, Janet Ongera and Ababu Namwamba.
IEBC lawyers are Kamau Karuri and Nani Mungai.
Cord has also withdrawn a demand that Safaricom release a printout of all messages sent through the hand-held transmission devices; contracts signed with IEBC in connection with the General Election and information transmitted to the IEBC server on March 4 and 5,
Safaricom welcomed the withdrawal of the petition.
“Pursuant to the withdrawal of the Petition by the CORD representative, Safaricom has undertaken to play its part in explaining and or providing to the IEBC for onward presentation to the Judiciary all pertinent information.
“This information is limited to what can be legally disclosed, what is technically available and specifically only that which directly emanates from its contractual scope with the IEBC,” Safaricom said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the court certified as urgent an application by Cord seeking to compel the electoral commission and Safaricom to release information it needs to file a case challenging Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory.
Mr Justice Isaac Lenaola directed Cord to serve the IEBC and Safaricom for an inter-parties hearing at 8.45am Wednesday.
The coalition had told the High Court that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was frustrating efforts to acquire information to back a case it planned to file at the Supreme Court.
The suit was filed by Mr Eliud Owalo, head of Cord presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s secretariat.
Mr Owalo said the IEBC and Safaricom had refused to release vital information to the case. He submitted that after the IEBC electronic tallying system collapsed, he became convinced that the outcome of the election was manipulated.
“I wrote to the IEBC on March 8 requesting information and data. I sent a similar letter to Safaricom whose services were used by IEBC to relay information from polling stations but they all refused to respond,” said Mr Owalo.
He wants a court order directing the IEBC to immediately release all forms 34, 35 and 36 from all polling stations and constituencies in relation to the presidential election and all the results that were declared electronically at the Bomas tallying centre.
"The urgency in the matter is that we have only seven days to file a case at the Supreme Court and if the documents are not made available, our right to justice will be infringed on,” said Mr Owalo.
